Harry Potter Finally Graduates Book V -- Ginny's Quest Continues
by hemerocallis
Summary: While Ginny continues her dangerous Quest, on behalf of Odin, newly sworn-in Minister of Magic Harry Potter must face new challenges in Wizard Britain. Ginny and Hermione slowly learn the true purpose for their Quest. Ginny confronts the political battles and deception of other magical worlds. Witch sculpture becomes a weapon. Ginny and Hermione have children and get religion.
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter Finally Graduates Book V – The Quest Continues And Harry Is Minister

Authors Notes: Many of the characters in this book were introduced and developed in the first four books of Harry Potter Finally Graduates. This chapter will make much more sense if you read the initial four books first. At the bare minimum, please read books III and IV first.

The characters, plots, and settings from the original Harry Potter series are the exclusive property of J. K. Rowling. New characters, plots, and settings introduced in Harry Potter Finally Graduates are my property. Therefore, nothing in this or the preceding books in the series may be used commercially by anyone. Both J, K. Rowling and I permit any and all to use our characters and plot as a starting point for a new fan fiction on this site.

I make necessary corrections which are pointed out by PM or reviews, both on this and prior books, and respond to questions from PMs and reviews.

Like the first 4 books of this series, reader 'Just William is editing Book V to spot errors of grammar and fact and to remove overt Americanisms, so it is less blatantly obvious that this series was written across the pond.

Chapter 1 – A New Start On Vanaheimr

I had one last duty, before I left Asgard. I summoned Blacky and gave him instructions to look for 'heavy' spots and strangers in the area of seid-space where we had rescued Odin and Gna had tried to murder the us and the history of our worlds, using the bomb I had carelessly left for her. Blacky gave me a report on his activities, since I had last seen him. Odin had visited my lands beside the pyramid once, just walking around the pyramid and storage building, not even entering either. Frijjo had visited Odin at Valaskjalf. Nothing unusual about any of that. Blacky's final report was most unusual. Narcissa Malfoy had slept at our camp outside Odin's observatory and unsuccessfully attempted to enter both the observatory and the forge. Blacky was certain of this. He had watched her the whole time she was there. I saw the raven-eye view of Narcissa Apparating away from the camp. Blackly watched the area for another day, but Narcissa did not reappear.

We were walking directly into Vanaheimer by way of its pyramid, but before we made that very short journey of almost infinite distance, I paused to update Harry and to contact Frijjo and alert her that we would arrive on her world within minutes. I also asked Yggdrasil to alert the Servers of the Black Stone on Vanaheimer.

Frijjo met us as soon as we trooped into the pyramid. The Servers yielded the front spot to her. I gave Frijjo a quick hug and then hugged all of the Servers. Cerce looked a bit the worse for wear, as if she had lost a fight. Before I could inquire, Frijjo regained control.

"Welcome! I needed your help sooner, but feared it would be another week or more before I saw you. I know that the Unicorn herd will help magic in the long-term, but their presence has further upset the balance of magic, and I badly need help in the short-term. It is my error, I oversold the arrival of the Unicorns and my people expected immediate benefit. They certainly didn't expect magic to be weakened in much of the City. I know that you have plans and expectations for the re-start of your Quest, but I need at least part of your team to begin work on the pyramid circle immediately."

"That was my plan. We've studied this circle and drawn images of the magical force lines and flaws in the webbing between the stones. I'm sorry and surprised about the Unicorns. Unfortunately, that means some of the study needs to be repeated before we can begin repairs, but the same Hogwarts students are with us and they won't need to fully repeat what they did last visit. They won't redo their drawings, just work with Cho to revise the repair plan. That can be finished today and then that team can move right into upgrading the circle. I can feel that magic here is less than it should be. I see that this circle still has its purple diamond. It should be at least twice as powerful as it was. The addition of many more Unicorns to our world required barely a tweak to two circles. I don't foresee a huge problem.

"While Cho's team works on that, Hermione and I will lead a team to examine the damage around the White Circle and try to fully understand the circle which Miomor built. I do want to build a new circle there, but can't do anything about the White Columns, until Yggdrasil teaches us how to rebuild them. We also lost a White Column on my world, so I am very eager to learn how to fix or build new White Columns. I want to at least learn enough by exploring whatever is left of your White Stones and their caverns that it will be easier for us to understand what Yggdrasil tries to teach us about repairing or rebuilding them. Odin probably told you, but we are to have a vacation after we complete our first three weeks of work here. Part of that time will be meeting with Odin and receiving more lessons on seid and at least our first lessons on White Columns. In the meantime, we can start on the circle which will accompany the new White Columns. I hope that the lodestone remains in good condition. That would be the hardest part of that circle to fix or replace. I don't know where we might find a replacement on your world and it is far to heavy to bring from another world. We will spend our initial time carefully studying your lodestone for damage. I think we can fix a minor crack, but a large crack is catastrophic. I'm willing to start work on that as soon as we commune with The Great Black Stone."

"Okay, but slow down a moment. There are a few things I must tell you. First, the caverns are still filled with rubble, exactly as they were when your battle ended and your bomb went off. I know that Odin gave you a report on the state of the caverns, he has seen them with his own eyes and agrees that the damage is massive, but I also know that you only fully believe the evidence of your own senses and investigations. So, I have touched nothing. Your people and my people must begin today by clearing stone rubble. There won't even be a clear space from which to work until we complete that unpleasant task. I hope I did the right thing in delaying this work until your arrival."

Actually, it was fine and not fine. Our progress would be delayed by a week. On the plus side, I had no way of knowing whether or not Yggdrasil expected us to gather up and save all of the big and little pieces of White Column for use in their reconstruction. If Frijjo had mistakenly discarded them, the whole project might be lost, before we had started. I hoped that Frijjo had at least done the Vanir equivalent of an 'Accio' to remove the dead bodies from under the rubble. I had the sinking suspicion that she had left them where they died. I said nothing more than "I think you made the right choice, we probably need to preserve all of the White Column fragnments."

"Good. I know that you and Hermione will want to thoroughly examine all of these caverns, to convince yourselves that you have found each little secret which they and we are hiding. I'm convinced that, apart from the cavern beneath the lodestone, that you've already found all of the significant secrets. I don't know anything about that lowest cavern myself. I just peered into it. It's filled with rock rubble. I saw enough of the upper walls and roof of that cavern to know that it's new, no older than a couple of your centuries, at most. We'll explore it together. Beyond that, I think Miomor fooled you. You thought, now without some logic, that she kept insisting that you build a modern circle in the Village Vana 'at once' to prevent you from finding the secrets of the White Column's caverns. I don't believe that. You found those secrets only because Miomor left you alone for too long and foolishly failed to incapacitate her secret circle fully, before you even arrived on Vanaheimr. You could have built your new purple-diamond circle, successfully tested it and been none the wiser. There certainly was no risk of explosion. You would have gone on your way and Miomor would have stolen your diamond from the circle. I believe that the real secrets lie in the Village Vana. Miomor understood you far better than you realize, or Prudence guided her manipulation of you. She knew that you'd rebel against her insistence and refuse to even set foot in the village. Village Vana is where her most loyal supporters live. It's where the royals who were loyal to her live. It is no surprise to me that the secret circle beside the railroad tracks was in that empty farmland. The village is but ten miles away and her supporters could observe and defend it, while going about their business as farmers. You were totally fooled by Miomor. I know I shouldn't gloat. She fooled me too. We must be friends and treat each other well. We will explore Village Vana together. When I go with you, we must go in force. That place is where the greatest danger and most important secrets hide. I am sure of that. Now it's time for you to visit our Stone."

The half of the team which would come to Government House with me sat with as much of our bodies as our particularly physiology permitted pressed up against the Great Black Rock. We linked hands and Hermione and I managed to guide everyone, even Captain Davies, into the Stone. We greeted the Stone, received its permission to enter Vanaheimr, and requested an update and guidance about conditions on its world.

Conditions have not been good since you were here. Frijjo has been away too long. She doesn't really know Vanaheimr as it really is today and the Vanir neither know nor trust her. She has very few whom she is certain she can trust. Many of hundred royals think they or their kin should be monarch. Some supported Miomor. This group and Miomor's old guard force have fought Frijjo. Even this pyramid was invaded. I am a peaceful being, but was forced to kill two attackers or else my Servers would be slaughtered. Arce killed two others. The other Servers joined the fight after Arce fought. Frijjo arrived and together we drove the attackers away. Frijjo took two captives. You must question them.

Magic is not good and that makes the Vanir more restless. The Unicorn herd unbalanced magic. We could have fixed that, but the fighting destroyed two of the calcite crystals. We replaced them with the inferior crystals we had. We replaced the damaged gold webbing, but my poor circle is hurting badly. I hope that you brought good calcite crystals with you. Frijjo's pride doesn't permit her to admit how bad her problems are. She needs your help. We all do.

I assured her that we had brought some truly excellent calcite crystals with us and would immediately deploy two of them to improve the pyramid circle. That was the first order of business. It was foolish to try to temporarily re-tune a circle witch two very inferior crystals. I mentioned the plan to Cho and then gathered my half of the team to follow Frijjo to Government House.

Our rooms were right next to the rooms that Miomor had given Prudence. We were bunking four to a room, but the rooms were large and the beds felt great - far better than what Miomor had provided for her good friend Prudence. We had a very nice bathroom, with tub and running hot water, nestled among the rooms assigned to us. Barb told us that she and the young auror, Penelope, would room with Hermione and me, while the third auror would sleep in Percy and Callista's suite. Frijjo frowned at that announcement and started to make noises about our group not sufficiently trusting her, but Barb silenced her with "I have my orders from Director Shacklebolt and may not deviate from him. He was not at all pleased with the two attacks upon Ginny and Hermione on their last visit to Government House."

We were quickly settled in and off to the White Column pit to start clearing rubble and mapping the area. As we stood upon what was left of the balcony and peered over what was left of the railing, it suddenly became clear just how much rubble had to be cleared. The entire floor of the pit was covered with rocks, pebbles, and dust. There was no open space on which to stand and begin the project. The rubble was much deeper and the pieces much bigger at the end of the pit, where the balcony and part of the stairs had collapsed under our curse and the explosion of the bomb. The layer of debris seemed thinnest right in front of this area. That is where we would start. As we carefully made our way toward the major rubble, it became absolutely clear that Frijjo had not been pranking us about leaving the bodies where they had fallen. The stench was awful. I put on the gloves which Hermione had provided and decided to limit the excavation crew to the two of us, plus Barb, Penelope, and Catta. I thought Elf magic might be needed to apparate the heaviest pieces of balcony and stairs from this pit to the lawn in front of Government House.

Cantring certainly couldn't handle the impossible footing on the floor of the pit, ad it seemed unfair to subject the very young Cissy to such conditions. I instructed Cantring and Cissy to draw what they saw from the safety of the sounder sections of balcony and stairs. We had one of the Hogwarts students on our team. She could also draw from a distance. I wanted all of the drawers to focus upon the immediate vicinity of the White Columns. I asked Aagog to expore the ceiling and upper walls, searching for damage and hidden secrets. I told her that I was especially interested in the condition of the quartz cylinder in the ceiling and the top of the lodestone.

As we gingerly stepped across the smaller rubble toward the big pieces, I suggested to Frijjo: "Let's move the two biggest pieces, while we still have our full strength."

Frijjo agreed. She had 3 of her guards to assist the five of us. We arrayed ourselves around the biggest piece of stone. "Remember," Hermione warned one and all, "this huge stone is going to be flying along with us and we have to avoid any part of us landing under it. Get a good grip, everyone and we apparate on the NOW! after three. Okay, one, two, three, NOW!"

We found ourselves arrayed around a truly big piece of stone from the balcony. Fortunately, we had sustained no injuries. I suggested that we walk back, rather than apparating to conserve magical strength. That was acceptable. As we returned to face the second largest stone, I saw three legs and an arm protruding from it. They looked to be far from fresh, as I knew they must be.

"Okay, same plan as last time. Get a good grip, watch your feet and one, two, three, NOW!"

Out on the lawn, but not in as good shape as the first time. One of Frijjo's guards was groaning and pointing to where the stone had pinned his leg. "Sorry, I started to slip just as we apparated.

"Okay, most of us must apparate the stone a few paces over there, we'll put it on top of that short bush. Hermione will stay here to tend to Raquen. If something goes wrong and we can't move the stone far, she must pull him to safety. Otherwise, she must quickly stop any bleeding. I'll count this one. One, two, three, NOW!"

That went fine, but I turned to see Hermione working to stop the flow of what I knew must be arterial blood. Hermione, being Hermione, stanched the flow by the time we reached her side. She rendered her verdict: "I'm sure his femur is broken."

Frijjo dispatched one of her guards to apparate Raquen to 'hospital', which apparently was somewhere inside Government Building. "No more stones for today, but the rest of us must deal with the bodies which were under the stone. We'll apparate them right here, beside the largest stone." She walked over to that spot, pointing where she wanted the row of bodies to start and indicating about a six-foot spacing away from the stone. We again walked back to the work area.

There were three bodies and they were not in good shape at all. Based on clothes and the medallion of office on a chain around her neck, I easily identified the middle body as Miomor. Two of us were assigned to each body. I grimaced as Hermione and I grabbed hold of Miomor. We were to place her in the spot nearest the stone. She was bloated and sort of leaking, from damage caused by being crushed beneath the stone. I suppressed a gag, telling Hermione: "Okay, one, two, three, NOW!"

With Miomor on the ground, Hermione and I stepped away from her toward the stone. A few seconds later, Barb and Frijjo arrived with one of the guards. As they were walking to join us, Penelope and two of Frijjo's men arrived with the body of the second guard.

"I think we must burn the bodies," Frijjo announced. "First we must examine what Miomor has on her person. I'll do our equivalent of your 'Accio" and lay them out on the flat part of this stone."

As she finished speaking, objects arrived. There were a number of easily identifiable large objects. I saw the treaty copy, which Dad had signed. It was neatly rolled up and tied with a bright gold ribbon, but the Miomor joices. I happily left it to Frijjo. The medallion was of no interest. Hermione and I were both drawn to a large brass ring with at least twenty brass keys. I knew what Hermione intended as soon as I saw her point her wand at her carry bag. A bar of brass plopped onto the ground, Hermione stared intently at the keys, requested that Frijjo turn them over, stared some more, and then with a flick of her wand materialized a copy of the keys for us. She waved her wand over our set of keys, undoubtedly performing a series of sanitizing spells and then chucked the keys into her bag.

"I hope you aren't planning to sneak into my new office," Frijjo half-jokingly complained to Hermione.

"Only if you are as remarkably silly as not to change the lock, to what I'm sure is a high-powered, Godly lock. There are so many keys, we are bound to encounter a lock which one of them will open. That may allow us to escape a trap or discover some more of Miomor's secrets. I know that some of Miomor's guards fought the Servers inside the pyramid. That tells me that a lot of dangers, and likely deadly traps, still abound on Vanaheimr."

There was a wad of British pounds, which we sanitized and took with us. We left everything else to Frijjo, leaving her to burn the bodies. I said we were off to our rooms for baths and rest, asking where and when we should join her for dinner.

"Don't worry about that. We'll eat in about two hours. It's in my private dining room. You've not been there - a guard will swing by to escort you at the proper time. Chef is finicky and I can't predict dinnertime to closer that a half hour."

Hermione told me to take the first bath and to be quick about it. I was as quick as I could be, but had to wait for Cissy to finish, the rest of the team getting back to our rooms ahead of Hermione and me. My muscles felt much better after a five minute soak in the hot water. Even though we had worn gloves and masks for our distasteful assignment, I still scrubbed viciously at my skin, determined that not the faintest trace of Miomor remained. Before donning clean clothes, I performed cleaning and sanitizing spells on both my used clothes and upon myself.

I had been quick, but Hermione was waiting, towel in hand. "Make your report to Harry, I'm going to have to take at least ten."

As soon as I lay down on my bed to contact Harry, Aagog scrambled up onto my stomach to give her report. "I find secret hiding spot near ceiling with two quartz cylinders and many diamonds. Catta help me. Cantring is hiding all stones. Quartz cylinder in ceiling is broke. I find nothing in rest of search."

I thanked Aagog, telling her that now I must make my report to Minister husband Harry. It was obvious that I caught Harry in busy mode. I was quick, just dumping everything we had learned, including the report from Aagog. Harry wasn't to busy to be very upset. "It sounds like you are in great danger, if Miomor's people were able to invade the pyramid. You are supposed to be building circles, not handling war dead. You could catch something and die! Please be safer! Things aren't great here, either. I talked to McGonagall and Draco. They don't know where Narcissa is and were surprised she had been on Asgard. I talked to the pyramid guard. They say they thought Narcissa had permission to walk through to the pyramid between worlds. She had a very functional ring. They confirm that she left our world, she actually did that while you were still here, and returned almost as soon as you left. Perhaps she spotted your arrival in Asgard. Fran and Angela Lester are at Hogwarts and seem settled in. Cissy and Henry have met with Steven. Steven and Henry got along better than could be expected, given the age difference and their individual problems. Mrs. Longbottom is going to prosecute Eva Duerr. The trial starts next week. McGonagall is already something of a load. Perhaps picking her was a mistake. I won't burden you. Maybe I will. McGonagall has convinced herself that Madam Bones's violation of the Secrecy Act somehow makes her uniquely qualified to play a leading role in handling the situation, including the integration of the Lester's into our world and following up on the leak, which couldn't possibly be down to 'poor Amanda, who was just trying to be helpful'. I'm not at all convinced that your father's hallway conversations are the source of the leak. We arrested Rita Skeeter, but she quickly convinced the truthtellers and Mrs. Longbottom that she had nothing to do with it. we've heard nothing of Roger since we lost him in New York City. Rita might have helped us track him. Opportunity missed. I love you, but I gotta go."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – Dinner With Frijjo**

A very sharply dressed young guard stopped by our room at exactly sunset and escorted the four of us to Frijjo's private dining room. I noticed at once that the room was too small to comfortably accommodate our whole party. Before I could raise an objection, Frijjo explained her plan.

"I need to meet with just the official government representatives. The rest of your two teams will dine in the Reception Hall. I know that you scared little Witches feel that you require Barb to protect you. She can stay. She has some rank in your Auror Corps, but Penelope is too junior to join us. She'll have to eat with the others. Cho will be joining us as the official representative of the European Wizards – no, I don't count Britain as part of Europe, and neither do you. Captain Davies, Percy, Aagog, Catta, and Tendra will be dining with us. I'm sorry both that this room can't fit Cantring and Pegasus and that their people never identified them as official representatives. You might want to see about correcting that problem."

The other persons she mentioned had been escorted into the room, before she finished speaking. Cho sidled up to me "we're ready to replace the calcites, whenever. We can get some sleep after dinner, or we can finish the project by mid-morning – your choice."

Frijjo directed us to our seats, telling us that it was pleasant chit chat only, until the servers left. I didn't see any servers, but they arrived with drinks and soup as soon as my bottom hit my chair. I saw that Arce had joined us. She sat right between Hermione and me. "I leave to be ambassador to your world as soon as the circle inside the pyramid is repaired and tuned. Deena will be your main contact after I depart. I believe that will be within the next two days."

The servers were gone and Frijjo quickly switched to business. "What must be done to get the pyramid circle working within the day?"

When Cho explained the state of affairs, Frijjo immediately instructed "then the work must be done immediately. Our situation is precarious. Are there objections?" She looked straight at me as she said that last part.

"As long as we tend to security, I have no objections. We brought swords and Cantring has a bow and arrows. Your loyal guards must be prepared to fight in the absence of magic. There will be no magic for half a day. You need to be able to keep at least this building and the pyramid secure during that time. I also think we must control the circle beside the railroad tracks. Part of our group and you or some of your most trusted guards must go there right after dinner, to secure that circle. We can boost its power as the pyramid circle is turned off. That way fewer of your people will feel the loss of magic. If there is trouble, we will be able to turn off the railway circle."

"Right after dinner, because you are afraid, I will contact supporters to ambush you there, if you wait longer?"

"No, right after dinner, because that is when the pyramid circle will be turned off for repairs. I have no doubt you can communicate through the Great Black Stone or even through Yggdrasil if you wanted to alert your fighters, while we eat, and that they would be at the railroad track circle, before dessert was served. Since you've touched on mistrust, I must take this time to tell you that Aagog discovered hidden quartz cylinders, ruby cylinders, and white diamonds near the ceiling of the White Column pit. I believe that Cantring is presently guarding them."

"And when had you planned to tell me this?"

"I thought Cantring would be here and we could just give them to you now, but since we aren't all together, I decided to just tell you now and we can both talk to Cantring after dinner."

The food was very good, and it was served with wine from a strange fruit, rather than the wood alcohol Miomor had served us. The wine was good, if overly sweet, and had a strong taste of cherry and almond. No worries – Hermione tested for poison, while I spoke with Frijjo.

Frijjo changed directions completely as the main course of a pungently aromatic vegetable stew was served. "We must speak of Odin. I know that he asked you to bring more of your giant spiders to Asgard. He wishes them to enforce his control of seid space. Despite what he told you after Aagog bit me, he now seems to believe that one of the older spiders could kill me…"

"My mother bite very, very hard," Aagog told her. "She bite, you die."

"That may be true," Frijjo lamented. "I'm not as strong a Goddess as I once was. Even the charging oval can hold back time for only so long. I believe Odin believes that I am vulnerable to the spiders. He means to end my practice of seid. That means he no longer trusts me not to interfere with his plan to become fully spirit. I'm convinced that he still loves me and wishes me well, but he will brook no interference with his plan to move on. He plans to leave you and me and our worlds in charge after he departs. That is why he insists that you and I be friends. Our worlds will be responsible for everything and everything will end if we fight each other. Odin has little faith in his fellow Aesir. He is wise to recognise their degeneracy. I am not pleased to see Odin rush his departure; He will leave a very great mess behind. I love him too much to stop him, if becoming a spirit is what he truly desires. I am unsure if I will ever see his face again. He gives me and Vanaheimer our freedom in order to be rid of us. He thinks your people are the future. If I am to do any more seid to help myself and my world, I must do so very soon.

"I tell you what I believe. Odin does not wish to fight another Ragnarök. He thinks he can become full spirit without my seid interference. Both of us lose a lot if Odin departs. We both take part of our authority from him. You told him too much about my early seid attempts to weaken him, but it is Miomor and Gna who turned him firmly against me. His last goodbye to me was so… final. He is not the old Odin. What have you noticed?"

"I was surprised when he said it was right that his observatory and Valaskjalf be covered with forest and taken over by nature and the Acromantula. I agree that he sees an Asgard without himself. I didn't take his comments to mean he expects to leave within the year. It will take several decades for the forest to re-establish and the number of Acromantula to increase."

"That is very bad. It can be especially bad if Sigrun and the minor Gods of the Aesir quickly grasp Odin's intentions. If Sigrun thinks that Odin will no longer be on Asgard to support Valhalla and the Valkyrie, there is no telling what she would do. She'll certainly seek a new sponsor. The Aesir fear the spiders. There are many, many folk tales. They are remembered as nearly invincible demons. In the end, the Ancient Aesir burned the forest totally, then drove the spiders from seid space. Many Aesir died. It is their greatest nightmare. There is no telling what a people will do when forced to relive their historic nightmare.

"There are those who would free Odin's brothers and help them to depose him. I know Vili and Ve still live. Odin could not bear to kill them. It is like your people and Azkaban. You can't kill even your worst rebels and outlaws, but you can chuck them into the worst imaginable prison, where they are tortured daily, until they just die on their own."

"Or escape. We stopped using Azkaban. We stopped even before it was destroyed. You are right, it was just too cruel. I have received my third warning about Sigrun. You can trust me to be wary."

Dessert arrived and Frijjo left that conversation, as if it had never happened, although she did send a wink in my direction. I was sure that Hermione and possibly Cho, who was right across the table from us, had heard every word. They would analyse every word with me tomorrow. Worse, I would have to go through a repeated dissection of each sentence with Harry and Tony.

Frijjo was back to replacing the calcites tonight. "Yes, we definitely must control the circle beside the railroad tracks for the full time that the pyramid circle is out. One of my favorites of the youngest royal generation guards it for me. I wanted to control that circle to prevent an incident or attack, when my opponents found that your team had arrived. Many thought you wouldn't come at all; that Miomor, Gna, and I had spoiled the chance for our peoples to be friends. Others thought that if you came, your arrival was weeks away. Your appearance today must have come as a shock to many. No telling how they will react. My many-times-great nephew Arti agreed to guard the circle, with the help of his girlfriend, Pisa. Arti is one of the few royals who truly loves and trusts his Auntie.

"We must arrive in force to help Arti. Once magic fails in the capital, my enemies in Village Vana will come to seize the railway circle. You and several of your best fighters must come with me. I'll bring several of my personal guards. The rest of your group must defend the pyramid, while the repairs are in progress. As you know, the Great Black Stone can help them, but I know that you brought some of your special weapons with you. They must be kept at the ready. This may be a most dangerous night."

Hermione and I assured her that we were willing to help and could certainly do all of that. I told her that she must bring her pendant, so that she could kill the railway circle if that was required.

"I'll bring it. I trust you not to steal it, since you willingly returned it to me. But you must know that the pendant only works on purple diamond circles – on natural purple diamond circles. I'm not stupid. I know you would have fought returning the pendant if it were able to control circles powered by Hermione's purple diamonds. I don't know why Hermione's diamonds should be good enough to power a circle properly, yet sufficiently flawed that my pendant can't control them, but I'm certain that's the case."

"It is. I'm just not at all certain that we won't find the railway circle has one of the original purple diamonds, or that the attackers from Village Vana won't bring one with them."

"You are a cautious one. Finish your cake and we'll be on our way."

It was very good dark chocolate cake, but I wolfed down the rest of it. We collected Cantring and the others, distributing assignments and returning what Aagog had found to Frijjo. I wanted Hermione, Cho, and Cantring to come to the railway circle with us and then return to the pyramid. Scathach, the Caileach, Aagog and Barb would stay with me to help guard the railway circle.

"We need to transport into the circle cavern. I can land my team away from the circle. I'll aim for rear of cavern, toward right side looking toward the circle. Everyone use the 'Off!' curse if we meet resistance. Cantring will use arrows."

"I'll bring my guards in atop the central stone," Frijjo promised.

Each group arrayed itself in fighting position and held hands. "It will be: three, two, one, now - go on now." Frijjo ordered. "Okay. Three, two, one, now!"

It was instantly obvious that more than Arti and Pisa were in the cavern. I saw at least a dozen Vanir and quickly started firing off curses. I dropped three of the defenders. When I turned to find another target, the only defender standing was a young, adult, female Vanir, who was bent over with an arrow in her thigh. I thought it better to 'Off!' her before tending to her wound and did exactly that.

"I'll kill that traitorous Arti", Frijjo yelled from atop the lodestone. "The girl with the arrow is Pisa. I don't care if you heal her or let her bleed out. She and Arti betrayed me. Yes, of course you can save her, but first we must bind and disarm all who have fallen. I don't know how long your curse lasts. Ours are good for almost an hour."

I made certain that Pisa was thoroughly gooped, before magically removing the arrow from her thigh. "Remove your curse," Frijjo ordered me.

I quickly complied. Almost immediately, Pisa was screaming as Frijjo cauterised her wound with a screwdriver she had magically heated. The wooden handle was smoking, and it burst into flame as Frijjo tossed it aside.

"Unless you want to find out what I can do with a hammer, you had better start talking," Frijjo shrieked at Pisa. "What is this? You and Arti were supposed to guard the circle alone. Who are all of these... others?"

"They're friends. They were just helping us to protect the circle, as you ordered. They're all on your side. Why do you torture me? Arti will be very angry at you."

"Nonsense, I recognise that one over there." That comment was punctuated by Frijjo throwing the hammer at the defender in question. It bounced off his leg. I think he was one of the defenders whom I had Offed. If so, he would know nothing of this and would awake, after I removed my curse, wondering how he hurt that leg.

"Alright, I'll tell you. You aren't wanted here. You don't even count as Vanir. You are Odin's whore and a traitor to true Vanir. You also should have died centuries ago. We weren't going to allow you to come here and live another life lording it over us. Arti should rule. He was educated for that. He is very brave and a proper Vanir. Also, smart: he knew you would come here, when repairs on the pyramid circle were to begin. We came. We waited. We almost had you."

Frijjo pointed her finger at Pisa. Pisa became silent and still. I hoped that Frijjo had used her equivalent of 'Off!' but something about the way Pisa had gone rigid, prior to becoming still, suggested that a more lethal curse had been used. I also realized that with just over a dozen prisoners and with Frijjo in such a deadly mood, I couldn't send as many back to the pyramid as I had hoped. I decided to keep Hermione and Cantring with me, sending the others back with the message that this circle was secure and that they should start work on the pyramid circle.

I turned back to find Frijjo standing over Arti. "Stop! Just please stop!" I yelled at Frijjo.

"Do you really mind that much if I kill this traitor? Your Mother ethics are making you weaker than you need to be. This is a war."

"Bloodthirstiness clouds the judgment. Certainly, you want to question Arti and find out what he knows and why he did this."

"I agree. It may be fun to question him. I know why he did this. He is far too ambitious and only pretended to like and support me. You were right, by the way: I did find a purple diamond at the center of this circle. I can't tell it it's Hermione's or an original."

I felt a shiver. The pyramid circle had been turned off. "Should we power this circle higher, before magic is missed?" I suggested to Frijjo.

"I don't think quite yet. Let my enemies think their plan is working and find out what comes next. Let's give it one of your hours and then power this circle fully. It will be a good test for this purple diamond. You might want to take cover, when I do that."

"You don't know what the opposition's plan was. Perhaps this group was supposed to crank up this circle, as soon as the pyramid circle dropped out. Perhaps they were supposed to re-tune it for dark magic. I think you should test whether your pendant can control it. That should tell you what sort of purple diamond powers it."

"Good idea. I'll tweak it just a little. The pendant is capable of more than a crude on and off. Yes, it works, so the diamond isn't Hermione's. I wonder where Arti got one of the good ones. I am now very pleased that you stopped me from killing him. It seems that he has far too many secrets. I was certain that I had more than enough skill to determine when one such as this lies to me. He fooled me. That is not at all good. Truth telling was one of my best defenses. That leaves me in a grim spot. There are several hundred royals who could lie to my face and I'd never know it. Several hundred royals who dream of they or their clan ruling the Vanir. I may have to end the monarchy. I make hundreds of deadly enemies if I try to preserve it. End it and they will fight for the survival of their privilege, but they will be neutered. When you return home, you must take the ancient parchment with you. It is like a dagger pointed at my back."

"We'll take it and keep it safe, but it's not really nearly as old as you claim. It's about a thousand of our years old. I'm certain it has been re-created multiple times since you left Vanaheimer. Even if each copy was accurate, who would ever believe that. Now I must get back to help our friends defend the pyramid. Ginny, Barb, and Cantring will be enough help here." This was addressed to Frijjo. To me Hermione said "you don't have nearly as many prisoners to guard, as you believe. I think there are only six. Frijjo and her guards were not using 'Off!' They are not Light Guardian Priestesses. We must remember that."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – A Larger Battle**

As soon as Hermione was gone, Frijjo lectured me "What did you expect me to do? My fighters and I are greatly outnumbered, and I have no idea how quickly these," she pointed at the dead and comatose opponents, who had controlled this circle "will get reinforcements from the Village Vana. We are only guessing what this circle was expected to do after the pyramid circle was shut down. One miscalculation could bring a horde to attack us. Prisoners are a threat. I thought you would have learned about the danger of a catch and release policy, when you watched all the Death Eaters keep rejoining the fight and almost killing you and your friends. This is open rebellion and war, not a policeman arresting a shoplifter for prosecution. Your people lack a reliable jail. Well, so do I. But yes, we must question the prisoners. We must do it quickly. I erred in letting most of your fighters just leave. I assume you will only be able to un-curse those whom you personally cursed."

"That's correct. Hermione cursed your nephew, perhaps she…"

"Could be fetched, just like that, by thought alone…" there was awe in her tone.

"I Apparated here with Circe to tell you that the pyramid is under attack. They are using magic. You need to re-tune this circle to our standard, so that we can use it, but our attackers can't. Circe says that this circle is tuned for the way the royals are taught to perform magic. The Servers of the Great Black Stone prefer a different tune. Circe is here to help, but we must be quick. We have already used one of our arrays – twice."

Hermione and Circe both had viewers. They told Frijjo and me exactly what must be done. We worked very fast. We removed and replaced just a few strands of the gold wire weave between the inner calcites, turning off the circle as we began. Hermione helped us, so this was raced through in minutes. Next, Circe smashed two of the spodumenes atop the lodestone, adding white diamonds on either side of each crystal she had smashed. She replaced the purple diamond with a ruby. The circle screeched a little as we re-energised it. I could tell that I could draw some power from it. Circe looked satisfied with the result.

"Hurry!" she commanded. "Our friends die as we wait."

We Apparated together to the pyramid, taking our living prisoners with us. We came into the side of a dozen attackers. We cursed them before they noticed our arrival. More attackers were coming through the pyramid entrance. Cissy and Cho had one of the arrays pointed at them. They triggered the arrays and almost a dozen attackers collapsed. We began cursing the remaining attackers and their reinforcements, who hadn't stopped arriving.

Frijjo pointed and attackers collapsed. Then suddenly, Frijjo grabbed at her chest and fell to the ground, barely moving. The array was triggered a second time. This time I clearly heard Cho shout 'Kill!' Eight more attackers were on the ground and a couple more were teetering. One of Frijjo's fighters went down, as I fired an 'Off!' at his attacker, while pouring magical energy into Frijjo. I scored on my guy, but one of the two fighters protecting Frijjo and me collapsed atop Frijjo. I dropped his attacker and checked on his condition. He was dead. I was surprised the attackers had managed a strong enough curse, with the way their magic had been messed up by us.

The battle paused as most of the attackers grabbed at their heads with both hands. Then I felt a little faint and realised that the railway circle must have been turned off or died. It was swords plus the few remaining wands we had with stored magical energy.

An attacker approached me, swinging a heavy, wide sword at me. I ducked the slow sweep of his blade, thrusting forward with my own sword. I gasped. This wasn't like fighting demons. There were no red sparks, no wave of pain in my head, but I felt my sword push through approximately human flesh and crack ribs as it burrowed deep into my attacker. I saw his blood flow and had to jerk hard upon by sword to free it as he collapsed.

I sensed movement on my left and faded away from another attacker, who was approaching too fast for me to defend myself with my sword. I used a wandless 'Off!' curse to drop him. I slashed an attacker, who had cornered Hermione and knocked her sword from her hands. I swung high and half removed his head, blood squirting everywhere, including on both Hermione and me. Little time to think as another attacker approached with a spear. I had another 'Off!' worth of power left in that wand and used it to drop him. Even in the heat of battle, as I untaped my last wand from my torso, I realised how incongruous it was to use 'Off!' as I practically lopped off bloody heads with my sword.

I was surprised by a bright green flash. I hadn't realised that one of the arrays had enough magical energy left to be of any value. I was more surprised to hear Cho shout "aim at that group. I'm ready to fire again."

The attackers were fleeing the pyramid. I let them escape without trying to curse them. Circe hit the panel beside the pyramid door, causing it to slide closed.

"Tell the Great Black Stone that it must deny entry to any but the Servers, Hermione, and me. Nobody Apparates into the pyramid"

Circe looked questioningly at Frijjo, but Frijjo was still in no position to complain, so Circe did as I asked.

"You can add others one-by-one as you decide they are safe. Now let's assess our injured and do what we can to heal their injuries." I yelled to the Hogwarts students to get help and goop the attackers, whom we had 'Off'ed.

Captain Davies was bleeding from a sword cut at her waist, but the bleeding was slow enough that I knew the sword hadn't damaged any significant arteries or veins. I used magic to stop the bleeding and seal the wound. I was very grateful that I had been able to save my last pre-charged wand. I had been about to deplete its charge in battle, when Cho unleashed her wand array.

Hermione used a numbing spell along with her needle and thread and a 'Descuzzify Totalis' to cleanse the wound. Captain Davies would be fine in a week. Hermione was working on Frijjo, while Cho tended to Deestra, whose right arm hung useless by her side. Arce hovered beside them telling Cho how bravely Deestra had defended the Great Black Stone and its pyramid and how horrible it was for the pyramid to be attacked for a second time in little more than a week. Deestra was having none of that. She wailed "Melona is dead. She killed two attackers, then a third killed her. It was awful. She was very brave and very loyal. She would not allow this circle to be harmed."

"The Great Black Stone helped us again. We couldn't have held out without us. It kept the attackers pressed into the far end of the pyramid for the first part of the fight. The attackers seemed to know which places on the pyramid walls must be damaged to stop our Stone from helping us. We Servers knew nothing of this. How could our attackers have known?"

I was beyond grateful that neither of the Hogwarts volunteers had been hurt grievously. Unfortunately, Mona had lost two fingers. I hoped that Hermione knew how to fix her hand. The students must return to Hogwarts as close to immediately as was possible under current conditions.

I knew that Frijjo had problems but hadn't imagined they were this bad. She wasn't even remotely in control of her world.

I had to discuss this Quest stop with Odin. I hadn't signed up to take sides in a civil war. This was very different than what had seemed a difficult, but necessary, fight on Hel at Odin's request. The spirits of our people, including Fred, had been rescued. Hel was an increasing threat to my world. I didn't feel badly about that fight. This one was leaving me sick to my stomach and totally questioning the wisdom of this Quest stop. I had a duty to protect my Quest team. I wasn't meeting that standard. Removing the Hogwarts students and meeting with Odin must happen within the day. I realised that one purpose justified the other. There was no way that Frijjo could reasonably object to a short departure to evacuate students from the threat zone. I had to steel myself for a very uncomfortable discussion with Harry tonight. Hogwarts students in a fight were trouble for him, likely very big trouble, if my grilling by the Wizengamot was a fair indication. Hermione shook my shoulder, drawing me back to real time.

"The wounded have all been cared for as well as we can, the dead are dead. Fortunately, none of ours, although Frijjo's guard is depleted and we lost Melona. What were you thinking, when I disturbed you?"

I told her, including my plan for the two of us to make a quick getaway.

"I agree. I want to stay for Frijjo's questioning of the prisoners. Especially her questioning of Arti. I'm not certain that our truth-telling skills can spot lies from a Vanir royal – I've tried to upgrade my ability since Miomor fooled us, but I just don't know. I think we must use my spiked Veritaserum. It just might work. I think we leave this day in any case. I'm sure Frijjo will kill the prisoners and I don't care to be around for that. I know I can't stop her, and I abhor her actions."

"Yes. I killed two of the attackers with my sword. It was awful. I'm trying to be a better Mother and Light Guardian priestess, but I just keep fighting and killing. I used an 'Off!' on Pisa and all the other attackers I faced, when my wand worked. It seemed humane, but Frijjo will just kill all of them, like she killed Pisa. I'm not happy fighting her battle. We will speak to Odin."

Arti was the first prisoner to be questioned. Frijjo agreed to use Hermione's Veritaserum. I think it worked - up to a point. It certainly seemed to loosen his tongue. He didn't try to hide his complete disdain for Frijjo, telling her that Vanir royalty had long since left her behind and that he viewed himself as the legitimate second-in-line to the throne. He had many supporters among the royals, although several others with 'lesser' right to the throne than his father, still felt they must rule. His faction was the strongest. Whatever happened to him, and if Frijjo valued her life, nothing bad had better happen to him, Frijjo could not win. Almost nobody liked her. Almost nobody felt she had a valid claim to the throne. Almost everybody thought her a traitor to the Vanir. She should be dead. He was unconvinced that she even was the real Frijjo. How could she have lived for such a long time? She was more a villain of legend than a real person to the Vanir. She had made a crucial mistake, which had set all the royals against her. How dare she propose to share rule with an elected council. The royals' rule must be absolute. They could appoint the occasional non-royal chief advisor, but any elected position was an abomination and a mortal threat to all royals. She may hold the symbols of royal power, quite illegally, but that gave her no precedence over legitimate heirs to the throne. Legitimate heirs with the balls to rule with absolute power. She'd be dead if these outsider mercenaries," he motioned to Hermione and me, "hadn't intervened. We were clearly better fighters than Frijjo and her guards. The trap had been perfect. She was damned lucky to still live. Her escape was another dark moment in the history of the Vanir."

He stopped for a breath and Frijjo cursed him for a minute, also describing all the vile things she would do to his person. Then Frijjo asked the crucial question: "where did you get the purple diamond, we found in the circle beside the railway tracks?" She waved the diamond in his face.

"It's ours. It's always been ours. Our side found a viable mine. The vein holds mainly tiny purple diamonds and white and yellow diamonds, but we retrieved a couple of wonderful, big, perfect purple diamonds."

"Where is the mine? I compel you to answer me."

There was a bang and the purple diamond shattered, really exploded, in Frijjo's hand. Her hand was bleeding, and one finger was dangling almost free of the hand."

I pulled my wand to prevent further attack, but Arti was already dead. I guess he knew the Lucius Malfoy trick.

We stopped the profuse bleeding from Frijjo's injured right hand and carefully wrapped the hand in a wet cloth, while we debated how best to repair it."

A shocked Frijjo demanded in tremulous voice: "take me to Odin. At once. He will be able to fix my hand."

"Okay, I had planned to evacuate the Hogwarts students today, anyway. There has been entirely too much fighting for them to stay here. The same is likely true for the rest of us, as well."

Hermione and I quickly found the two students and helped them pack their belongings. We held hands, with me holding Frijjo's good hand, and were transported to the library inside Yggdrasil. I messaged Odin to come quickly - we had injuries, including Frijjo.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Odin

A minute passed and then Odin was standing with us in the library. He saw Frijjo and a female student with their right hands wrapped in white cloth. The cloth on the student's hand looked pristine. Frijjo's cloth had a reddish-brown patch, where her blood had soaked through the cloth. I was thinking that Odin always arrives almost instantly whenever Frijjo is hurt or in some sort of danger. I stepped aside to give him easy access to her.

Commenting to Frijjo "I didn't expect to see you again," Odin helped her into a seat and... moved past her to check out the injured student. "It's a pity to see one so young be injured in what clearly was a battle, when she was present only to learn how to repair a damaged circle. I apologise for that problem. Here, let me check that hand. Why, you've lost the better part of two fingers and lopped the top off a third? Fortunately, Odin knows how to fix this."

Odin expressed such sympathy as he applied multiple spells and cream from two bottles to the girl's injured hand, that I thought I would have to keep close watch, lest Odin try to hustle her off to his bed. He worked on her hand for half an hour before announcing "you're almost as good as new, but you need a session in my energising ovals to spur your body to complete the cure. I'll take you there and get you set up, before I tend to the more complicated case, which is Frijjo."

Hermione must have shared my thought, because she volunteered to accompany them, tend to the girl while she was inside the oval, and escort her back to the library. As soon as they left, Frijjo unburdened herself: "Now you see how I am regarded here. I told you the straight truth. The girl isn't bleeding, I am. Odin is done with me. You're his favourite now. We must work together to save our own and all of Odin's other worlds. Odin lacks the necessary energy and desire to make the effort to preserve his corporeal domain. As you know, I've lived thousands of your years. All but thirty of those years have been spent on Asgard. Many of those years not by my own choosing. I was required to sacrifice much for Odin. The only time I returned to Vanaheimer, when the people I knew before Odin seized me were still alive, was a brief visit of purposeful humiliation of me, by Odin. It was meant to show my people the futility of revolt, but it HURT ME. I've grown comfortable, even happy here. I didn't have a lot of choice. I knew nobody on Vanaheimer. I had so few choices that Odin allowed me to spend years rambling across your world and Venera. Your people saw me as Goddess. I know that was very long ago. I know that your people are wiser and more powerful now and that I'm only half the Goddess I was then. I am no better able to keep Odin's worlds safe than Odin is. Without the victory on Hel, all would likely be lost now. That was down to you and your friends. We must work together. Promise me that you will."

I mumbled "okay." I didn't know how deep a commitment I was prepared to make. I didn't want to fight Frijjo's civil war. I was fishing around for what more I could comfortably say, as Frijjo stared at me, her eyes begging me to promise my support. "I'll do the best I can. This last battle has unnerved me. I can't ask my Questers to fight your civil war, one you seem very ill-prepared to fight without us. I don't even believe in royal rule. Our government is elected. Our British Queen has almost no real power. I can say that there is zero chance I could ever have sided with Arti. I must think, my government..."

Odin was back and surprisingly cheerful. "Hello, Frijjo my love. Now let me attend to you. I had to get the girl squared away, before I could devote my full attention to healing you. You know how emotional and noisy injured children can be, although this one was remarkably stoic about her injury. You owe her. She fought and was injured on your behalf as well as Ginny's. I also owe her. It is a terrible thing to force children to fight. It's not at all why I sent the Questers plus two young students to Vanaheimr. Now, let me fix your hand."

He unwrapped Frijjo's hand, telling her "you really seriously injured this. It looks like a sword did this. This will take a little while, but I can fix it. While I work, why don't you tell me what happened. How bad are things on Vanaheimer?"

Frijjo told a very long tale. Fixing her hand took that long. She did not object to my listening to her tale. I believe she was completely honest with Odin and me. She showed the purple diamond shards to Odin and told him of its origin from a mystery mine on Vanaheimer. Odin at first thought it must be one of the original purple diamonds. Perhaps there were four full sized diamonds plus the smaller version which ended up in the royal pendant. Perhaps his diamond exploded in the circle of the pyramid-between-worlds because it was an inferior copy - my fighters hadn't done anything which should have caused it to fail that spectacularly, although he was still trying to fully understand my magic. Odin stopped work on Frjjo's hand, for the briefest time, to extract a magnifier and small calipers from his robes. After a quick examination, he reported: "you are correct. This diamond is a little smaller than the three original ones. One must determine the diameter implied by the largest pieces. It does appear that it was of excellent quality, but I can't know for certain without testing it in a circle, which is obviously impossible now. How did it die."

In answer, Frijjo simply held up her hand. "Arti made it happen, just by his mind." Frijjo surprised me by handing me the diamond pieces just as soon as Odin returned them to her and insisting "you must take these with you when you return the students to their home. Hermione must ask her professor friend to run all his tests on them. I know that Hermione will make at least one whole copy of the original. I don't mind. Ask her to make one for me, as well." I doubted that was within the power of even Adrienne and Hermione working together. Frijjo then angered me by suggesting "I fear you won't return to Vanaheimer, so perhaps I must visit your world to seek its return and Hermione's report."

"My Quest team is on Vanaheimer. How can you suggest that I would abandon them there to make their own way back home? Of course, I will return. I expect to return within the day, two at the most, depending how many meetings are demanded of me and how long it takes to fully examine your diamond. I am uncertain how long I will ask my team to stay on Vanaheimer. That will certainly be a topic of discussion with the governments of my world. I'm happy to build circles for you and to rebuild the white columns, once I am taught how to do that, but I don't wish to participate in a civil war of succession on your world. I especially don't want to participate as your mercenary troops, when you seem to have so few troops of your own. My Quest team is limited to a size that is not capable of winning a war. I don't think I'm willing to wage that war, even if my team were enlarged. Vanaheimer is not at all as I was led to believe."

"I never lied to you. Nobody was more surprised than I by Arti's treachery. I trusted that my position was far more secure than is obviously the case. I knew I had problems in the countryside but thought the pyramid safe. I will have to make changes. I still believe I firmly control Government House and most of the City Vanir. I would not ask you or your team to travel to Village Vana, until it is safe, and we have enough force to protect ourselves there. My life will also be at risk. I will be with you the whole while you are in that village. Please promise to return."

I realised that I had impetuously raised the subject I had planned to discuss with Odin outside of Frijjo's hearing. Worse, I had done so without Hermione present to assist me. I had been manipulated. The false accusation that I wouldn't return, even to bring the rest of my team home, had been an outrageous statement intended to goad me into blurting what I had just said. I had said it while Odin's attention was fixed on his poor, wounded lover - the worst possible time. I hoped Odin wouldn't respond. Frijjo's presence must inhibit a full response. Fortunately, Odin limited his response to "please play together nicely. This doesn't have to be decided right this instant."

Frijjo continued a long explanation of her status on Vanaheimer. I learned some things I hadn't known. Frijjo had known from the start that one branch of the royal family, the Altairs, was opposed to her. They were the largest group of royals, with over a hundred members and were known to back Miomor. They had a tendentious, sort-of claim to be legitimate heirs to the throne, although they had several key out-marriages in their family tree, which Frijjo felt were disqualifying to the very inbred Vanir royals. She thought Arti's faction, the Melani family, supported her. If the new royal leader were to be chosen from the recent generations, they had several legitimate candidates. She had been wrong to trust them, or perhaps Arti played his own game, apart from his family. His was not among the strongest claims to the throne and perhaps he planned to leapfrog others in his families. If that were the case, key assassinations would have begun very soon - some might have already happened, Frijjo didn't know the exact whereabouts of most of the royals. She hoped that the remaining hundred or so royals, scattered among three families, were as neutral as they seemed, but now feared this wasn't true. Their families weren't in line for the throne by any plausible theory of royal succession, so they might well stay out of the fight, or even provide a careful level of support, if given an allowance. That was a risk Frijjo was considering. She had met with the councilmen who hadn't supported Miomor. They were willing to work together if Frijjo was willing to let them have the greater share of power and renounce any royal right to rule. They knew that the royal charter from the Light Guardian was a fraud and demanded that Frijjo publicly admit this. She could keep the pendant. They would take the ring - on behalf of all the Vanir people. There would be an election, but until then Frijjo could be the fifth member of the ruling council. Yes, of course two members of their own families were already added to the Council. They had saved the last spot for Frijjo, suspecting there was a deal to be had. Yes, of course Miomor's allies had been thrown off. They were, in fact, already dead. Frijjo didn't mention who had been responsible for these deaths. She sadly admitted "yes, the councilmembers are at least several steps ahead of me and anticipated that I would have no choice but to renounce royal rule... really to accept what scraps they felt they could easily afford to offer me. I get one vote against a united four. I am their ally or I am without influence. They knew my fellow royals would desert me." Having admitted her sadness, she abruptly crashed into melancholy.

Frijjo wept as she reported that four of her most loyal guards were dead - the two whose deaths I had witnessed, one who died during the first attack upon the pyramid, and one who was murdered while shopping for food in the main market place of the City Vana during his day off. The attacker had not been caught and the police had few leads. Her police force in the capital was only a third the size of Miomor's. Vetting loyal staff was a slow process. Her truth-telling and mind-reading skill was good enough to determine lack of current malice toward her, even a level of support, in the moment, but the situation was fluid and loyalties could change quickly. She was determined to hire only those whose loyalty was unlikely to change. The guard staff at Government House was close to full strength. The Servers of the Great Black Stone had proven most worthy - loyal, intelligent, and surprisingly good fighters. She had been foolish not to immediately give them her full trust and support. She was still learning. Freyr and Gna had shown her a very limited, and largely false, view of Vanaheimer. She had not set foot in the Village Vana since the start of her Quest. By tradition, Quests always began in that ancient village. Her government was short of money. Food deliveries from the countryside were erratic. She was considering which approach would gain her more support: basically renouncing the right of royals to rule and become a very diminished monarch who gave Council the biggest share of power, pledging to rule for only a several year period to get Vanaheimer back on its feet before stepping aside for a royal successor from the largest royal grouping, but the rising prices of food and other goods hurt that effort. She was frustrated and worried. She wouldn't deny that. She sought Odin's advice, and mine.

Hermione returned with Mona. "My fingers are back, and I can actually make them work!" Mona was jubilant. "That's the worst injury I've ever had. It was terrifying, but I would fight again, to protect our team, if given the chance. I know I'm being sent back home, along with Bronwyn. I know the danger likely hasn't passed. I want to come back when you think it's safe enough for us to do so. I learned a lot in a couple of days. I also learned how much I must learn. I really care about the Servers of the Great Black Stone. They are so brave, and smart, and dedicated. I want to be like them. They treated both Bronwyn and me very well."

"I can only promise to try to bring you back, when the time is right," I honestly told her, "given what has happened, my husband and your parents will likely have a veto over that. Bronwyn was here on our last trip to Vanaheimer. I caught a lot of abuse from the Wizengamot for taking her somewhere so dangerous. I've wondered, why did she want to return; why did her parents allow her to return? Why did you want to joint the Quest team after the controversy over the last trip?"

"A lot of reasons. Bronwyn said it was the most excitement she ever had and that she felt welcome and appreciated. She wants to do something important with her life. So do I. That isn't easy for Witches like us. I know there is a lot of prejudice against Muggle-born Witches. Hermione understands that. What she didn't understand is the prejudice in the English community against Welsh-born Witches. Wizards society is frozen in the old English view of we Welsh. Put the two together and I didn't have a super happy time at Hogwarts, even though most of my fellow Gryffindors helped me as much as they could. As a Lebanese immigrant, Mona had it a little worse than I did. I don't say this to malign your father or your husband, but I expect to find just as much prejudice and suffer just as much if I work for the Ministry as I have at Hogwarts. The Minister and Deputy have been good, from everything I've heard, but you need to get past so many lower levels with nasty bosses who don't like you, before you can come to a Minister's or Deputy Minister's attention. I hope you will put in a good word for me, when the time comes. The Ministry is in England. I'll have to fight my parents to be able to stay in England."

"It seems we all have to do better," Odin summarised. "Since these brave students did far more to protect my Frijjo and Ginny's Quest than they agreed to do or any of us expected to be required, I feel that I owe each of them a reward. For Bronwyn, I have a reward of a hundred gold galleons. Since Mona was injured fighting on my behalf, even though I think I made her good as new, I have a reward of one-hundred-and-fifty gold galleons. I always collect pockets full of galleons on my trips to your world. If either of you wants to return, you have my support. If you want to learn, I will help to teach you - right here on Asgard. Ginny needn't worry, I will behave myself. Now it is time for Ginny and Hermione to deliver you home. I will meet with them and ask Yggdrasil to begin their instruction when they return - hopefully in a day or two. This isn't your vacation, just a few days instruction, then off to Vanaheimr again. Your vacation comes after you clear the rubble from the White Column chambers. I think you've thoroughly explored the pit. Frijjo will clear the rest of the bodies and rubble, while you're away.

I reached through Yggdrasil to tell Harry that we were returning for a day or two. There had been a large fight. One student was injured but was fully repaired. I knew we needed a long talk. Could he and Ron meet us at our house in an hour?


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 – How Are Things On The Home Front**

Hermione took Mona to her house. We were all going to have quick baths and a change of clothes before Harry and Ron arrived. I gave Bronwyn first shot at the bath, fearing that Harry wouldn't wait the full hour to return home. It was no big deal if he caught me in the tub, but Bronwyn likely wouldn't be at all pleased. I took the time to make a giant pot of tea and to explore whether Harry had anything in the house which would go with the tea. Happily, there was a large box of shortbreads. I filled a plate and placed it upon our kitchen table. When Bronwyn returned from her bath, I told her that if Harry arrived before I returned that she should tell him her tale about the difficulties of Welsh Witches at Hogwarts and the Ministry. The Wizarding world was changing, but all too slowly. Harry favoured change and wasn't as afraid of offending the stick-in-the-mud old farts of the opposition ranks in the Wizengamot, but he got as easily distracted as I did, and Bronwyn's push would be a good thing.

As I used my wand to heat my bath to steaming temperature, I felt an extra sense of ease to be tapping into the power of our own magical circles. The strange magical force of Vanaheimer had set my teeth on edge. The screaming of the mis-tuned railway circle as it finally failed hadn't hurt my head as much as it injured the attackers, but it had created a pervasive, psychic unease, which was tough to cope with in the middle of a battle. When the fight was over and the pyramid circle restored to function, the tuning had been more for Vanaheimer minds than to my preference. Now, I could luxuriate immersed in both my hot bath and my friendly magical force. My muscles were sore from the battle. Sword fighting is difficult and I, fortunately, had no prior experience cutting flesh with my sword. I was just approaching the feeling relaxed point, when I heard Harry talking to Bronwyn. I gave myself another minute of soothing and then towelled and dressed in my Ministry formal robes, the only truly clean robes I owned. A big snog with Harry and I was ready for business. There was a knock at the door and Hermione and Ron joined us. Introductions of Mona and Bronwyn were made. We sat around the table and I poured everyone a large cup of orange tea.

I told Harry that all of us would take turns telling him the story. We weren't all present for the entirety of events. Harry agreed, but said he needed to go first.

"No pressure at all from Ron or me, but your father asked to join us. He says to tell you that although he behaved shamefully toward your Quest team and is very sorry, that he thinks his experience as Minister can help and he very much wants to be helpful. Molly will come with him to guarantee that... I guess to guarantee that Arthur will be on his best, most helpful behavior."

I could tell that Bronwyn felt the conversation had taken a seriously strange turn. I agreed that Dad could meet with us, he might very well be present when we met with Hermione's committee, which I was certain we would do within a day. I reached Dad and Mum through the Stone and told them that they were welcome to join us. They arrived almost immediately. Mum and I had a big hug, held for a while as we whispered to each other.

"Your father really is extremely sorry that he and Prudence did so much to mess up your Quest. I'm not sure he can help you, but he is determined to try. I told him that this is your and Harry's meeting and he is lucky to be allowed to attend. It is good to see you. I worried. I know that the turmoil with your father knocked you off your game and that can lead to dangerous errors."

"It could have. Hermione steadied me, she is a great friend and muse."

We told our tale. Telling it again made it seem even more dangerous and disastrous than it had seemed when we lived it. A dead Server, two dead guards, a wounded student, and a seriously wounded Captain Davies. I had killed again - more than once. I had tried to avoid doing so, but in the end, I had killed. This was the natural consequence of involving myself in battles and civil wars. Harry viewed the situation as even more serious than I did. A swordsman coming at your wife too quickly for her to use her sword in defence was frightening. Had this happened a minute or two later, after I had expended the stored magical energy in my last wand, I would be dead. It was that close a thing. Harry had fought enough to recognise that. Ron also knew how close to death Hermione had come.

"You're not Questing. You're fighting a war. If you're fighting a war, then it makes no sense to limit your numbers. I'm not at all convinced it makes sense for our community to be fighting in a civil war on Vanaheimer, but I know your Quest makes no sense. I think you've all Quested quite enough on Vanaheimer," Harry was adamant. "Determining who will rule Vanaheimer is not your job. It was important to help rid that world of those, like Miomor, and Freyr, and the dark Gods, who were a threat to our world as well as Vanaheimer. If the Vanir don't want Frijjo, I think it none of your or our world's business to impose her upon them. That is just very wrong. You've fought so much. You invaded Hel for Odin. That arguably was also to the benefit of our world and it did free the spirits of many of our friends. As both your Minister and your husband, I say you've fought enough. It's not consistent with your intention to be a proper Light Guardian Priestess and you are severely pressing your luck. Keep this up and you will be killed."

Wow! Ron and Dad both agreed with him. Mum said "they're right dear. Odin and Frijjo are taking advantage of you."

That was a very strong statement from Mum. I was taken a little aback, just because it was more directive than her normal tone, but I couldn't deny the logic of what she said. I also agreed with all of them. It was hard to imagine how the Quest would continue past tomorrow's meeting of Hermione's committee. I wasn't sure that I wanted it to. I'd missed my chance for a serious talk with Odin prior to the meeting of Hermione's committee. I could do it by Stone, but that wasn't quite the same. That reminded me that I had to contact Cho with a preliminary update for my team.

Others were speaking. "...trust Frijjo, and yet here you and Hermione are risking your lives so that she can rule Vanaheimer. How would you feel if a Wizard from very long ago, not even the thousands of years Frijjo has been away, let's say someone like Salazar Slytherin, returned and thought he had a right to rule us, because he thinks he was unfairly shunted aside many generations before you were born? Now, how would you feel if Slytherin showed up with an army of Questers from Venera as his enforcers, giving us no choice to decide who should run our government? That's exactly what you've been tricked into doing. Frijjo wasn't even going to rule back in her day. She was just to be the wife of the ruler. Was that even a position of real power?"

"I don't know Ron. I don't want to die and neither does Hermione. We don't want to pick the leader of the Vanir. That's up to them. We just agreed to help a formerly magical people to regain their magic. I am not at all happy about the situation we found ourselves in. I hoped to talk to Odin before we returned home, but the opportunity never came up."

"I did talk briefly with Odin and made my complaint to him, telling him that we went to Vanaheimer to restore magic, not to be Frijjo's army. I told Odin that I would wait and think it over and talk to Ginny and my inter-government committee, but that I would stop Questing if it required fighting. I am not a fighter. I owe it to Ron to stay alive. I see no benefit to our world from fighting to help Frijjo rule. I told Odin that if he felt guilty and that he carried a debt to Frijjo, then he must pay it - I would not. Odin told me 'later'. No offence to Mona, but it probably would have been best not to have to say what I said in front of her."

"It's good for more of us to know how things really are," Mona complained. "I want to be your friend. I am willing to keep your secrets."

"I know. You just shouldn't have to carry that responsibility. Now, unless any of you have helpful suggestions, prior to the meeting of my committee tomorrow, I have to pay a visit to Uncle Reg and his scientist friend."

"Wait a moment. Before you go, I want to hear what help Dad thinks he has to improve our safety or shorten our Quest."

"I don't actually have a lot beyond my best wishes and willingness to do what I can. Ellie and I are searching the Department of Mysteries for artifacts which might give you the surprise weapon you need. We haven't found it yet. At least, if we have found it, we haven't figured out how to make it work. George and Lee are also working on some new Weasley Wonders for you to take back with you. I've been helping them. We are improving the blackout powder and the ability to magically see through the blackout. I've spoken to Cotto. He has volunteered a half dozen Elves to watch your back in their invisible mode. You've not made use of the invisibility cloaks. You should do that. Mainly, and don't take this as criticism - I know that those battles were forced upon you from the moment you arrived on Vanaheimer, but I think you have neglected diplomacy. You began this Quest with the knowledge that you would face so many Gods and Goddesses that trying to fight your way through would inevitably lead to defeat and death. If you go back to Vanaheimer, and I'm not convinced that you should, then you need to understand and talk to the various factions as much as Frijjo does. You've been going based upon the guarded information Frijjo decides to give you and it seems her understanding of her world is very slim. My final suggestion is that you need to explore the past decade or century of events on Vanaheimer in seid space. My final promise is that I will continue to search for ways to help you."

"Thank you, that was useful, and I do appreciate your help." I gave Dad a hug. "Now I need to go talk to Neville. Don't think I missed the lack of an update on events here at home. However bad they are, I want to know about them. We can talk over dinner."

Before heading to Hogwarts, I reached Cho through the Stone. I told her of my schedule for the next day and a half and asked how things were on Vanaheimer.

"No more fighting, not a lot of help from the Vanir, apart from the Servers. Supplies haven't arrived at the pyramid. We and the Servers are consuming our supplies. Frijjo hasn't returned. We've finished fine tuning the circle. Nothing else to do here, apart from serving as the pyramid guards. In addition to the Servers, two of Frijjo's guards are present. That's it."

I told her to pack up and prepare to return home. I would contact Odin and get back to her.

Odin wasn't surprised to hear from me. He was surprised that I was about to order my team home and cancel the Quest. I explained that this decision wouldn't be made until after the meeting of Hermione's committee tomorrow. I wasn't on Vanaheimer and my team was uncomfortable serving as the military guard for the pyramid. I couldn't in good conscience ask them to stay. Frijjo's government was providing all of two guards to defend the pyramid and protect the Servers, circle, and Great Black Stone. That wasn't fair. My team weren't mercenary soldiers. Our task was to repair the circle. That was fully complete. My team was doing nothing except waiting for another battle and another chance to be killed in another peoples' civil war. That wasn't the purpose of my Quest.

Odin promised to speak to Frijjo. I must give him an hour. Frijjo was fully healed, but Odin had felt she needed some pampering before returning home. Perhaps that wasn't fair to the peoples of Britain. I agreed to give him the hour. In less than half that time, both Odin and Frijjo were simultaneously talking to me through Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil also was not silent. Of course, Frijjo and Odin needed to travel to Earth to see me in person. At once! I told them the key meeting was tomorrow. They'd stay until then. I needed to keep my team on Vanaheimer until after that meeting.

"Cho doesn't feel safe," I complained. "I can't ask her to stay and defend the pyramid, when Frijjo only supplies two of her guards to defend it. We are being treated as her army, not a Quest team. I'm beginning to doubt she has any significant level of support. Everywhere she is understaffed, and her guard force is very small, even in the capital. If she doesn't have enough supporters to even adequately guard Government House and the pyramid, then we are fighters not repairers of magic. With the deaths during the last attack on the pyramid and with Frijjo, Hermione, me, and the two students gone, there are eight less pyramid defenders than when we barely fended off the last attack. Several of the remaining defenders were injured in the last battle. Cho is right. It's not safe for my team to remain in the pyramid. They want to come home."

"I'll send more guards to the pyramid," Frijjo promised. "Give me an hour and then decide."

I relayed that message to Cho. She agreed to wait an hour. I would spend that hour with Neville.

I had one big question for Neville, one that it didn't seem fair to ask Margaret: "How did he cope with the emotional aftermath of killing by sword?" Neville was a good person to ask. He was gentler than me, and could helpfully get along with more people than I do. He also was more the scholar and less the adventure-seeking explorer and fighter that I am.

"Since you're asking me that question, clearly you haven't found an answer that satisfies you or justifies your actions in your own mind. I have a few questions for you. "Did you travel to Vanaheimer to fight and kill Vanir?"

"No, of course not. We went to fix their magic for them."

"In the fight, did you kill as many attackers as you could, or did you kill only as a last resort, or somewhere in between."

"Until I was down to my last wand and magic had died, I didn't use the sword. When I used my wands, I limited myself to 'Off', even though I feared Frijjo would just execute the prisoners, as she did in the battle at the circle beside the railway tracks. So perhaps I half thought that, in the end, an 'Off!' would have the same result as the A-K. I killed two of them with my sword. It's a very personal sort of killing. Not at all the same as with a wand. I felt my sword slicing or pushing its way through their flesh and bone. I had their blood on me. I had to yank my sword out of the one guy and I almost separated the other guy's head from his body. It wasn't the same as when we fought demons. There I got a shot of pain from each killing and the demons just vanished in red sparks. They didn't seem truly alive. I paid in pain, on the spot, for each killing of a demon. This was sooo different."

"I understand. I also felt that difference. I can tell you what consoles me: I know I made the right, tough choice, knowing if I didn't kill the attacker, that either I or a friend would die. It was either true self-defence or the defence of an innocent. Killing is always jarring, but I can live with it if it was right and I know that I didn't have the choice of a less destructive action. Was your killing justified?"

"I believe so. The guy whose head I cut almost off would have done the same to Hermione, if I had waited even a second. The other was trying to kill me. I had ducked his first swing, right before I stabbed him. I agree that I didn't have a choice. I still feel badly about it. That's not the sort of Mother I want to be, but I've been forced to be that sort of Mother. I don't feel right about fighting Frijjo's battles. I hate that she kills the prisoners whom I deliberately don't use a killing curse to stop. I really don't care that much if she uses a killing curse to fight her part of the battle. It just feels that I am dirty if the attackers I leave in a totally defenceless position are slaughtered by Frijjo. I think I should have stopped her, but I didn't. I was afraid that would lead to another fight and more killing between my Questers and her guards. I felt so helpless and just dirty. I'm supposed to be a Light Guardian priestess. I shouldn't be a part of that. I shouldn't be killing Vanir to force them to accept Frijjo as their ruler. I'd rather they made their own choice. I'd be happier trying to help Percy and Callista come up with a diplomatic solution. I just know that it's going to take a huge amount of killing to force Frijjo as ruler - way more killing than I can stand to be part of. She says she doesn't have the forces to guard prisoners, but she seems blood thirsty as she makes her way among the stunned and dead, deliberately killing the merely stunned. I did convince her that she needed to question the prisoners. The first one wound up killing himself. It was worse than Lucius Malfoy, because I was sure Lucius was rotten and that he had tried to kill me. These Vanir, even those in the act of killing me, just wanted to capture the pyramid. They fought me only because I was in their way."

"You had a perfect right to be where you were. They weren't justified in killing you. It is going to take time for you to settle your feelings. It took me weeks. I know that Margaret went through weeks of nightmares and came out the other side… I think, I hope, whole again, or very nearly so. I won't deny that even after weeks, killing leaves you a changed person in subtle ways you can hide from yourself most of the time. You can be called a hero; you can even believe that you acted heroically - there is still a change and the inescapable darker periods of reflection that perhaps the killing wasn't entirely necessary, that perhaps you wanted too much to be a hero, that perhaps the other guy wasn't as awful as you told yourself he was. You've been here before. You'll survive. Your regret is a good sign. Talk to Hermione's mother, when you have time. My mother also might help. Your own mother is a very good person, who has killed. Would it help if I shared some of my sherry with you?"

"I think I need to be very sober. I talk to Odin and Frijjo in less than a half hour and I need to decide whether to ask Cho to stay in the pyramid, until I get back, or come home right away. Oh! That's Cho, do you mind if I lie down on the floor of your office to speak with her?"

I was motioned to the floor and found a nice section of rug. Cho told me that eight of Frijjo's guards had just arrived. They seemed fit and eager to defend the pyramid. Cissy said they told the truth, when they told Cho that they were friends who were willing to die to defend the pyramid, Servers, and Questers. Cho was willing to stay at least until I returned. The guards had brought fresh supplies. There was plenty of food and water, but it was still poop in a bucket time, since it was unsafe to leave the pyramid. One of the guards suggested Apparating to Government House and back. Cho had declined, not hinting at any thought that it might be risky for a single, or even pair of, Questers to Apparate to Government House to use a bathroom. The bucket seemed the preferable alternative.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 – Frijjo and Odin, Before I Wanted To See Them**

I contacted Frijjo. She was pleased to hear that Cho and I weren't ordering the immediate evacuation of our Quest team. She was less thrilled when I told her that we were still unsure about continuing to Quest on Vanaheimr, or work on Vanaheimr in any capacity. I explained that the final decision would be a joint decision of Hermione's committee and the Quest team, but that Hermione, Cho, and I all had serious doubts about the wisdom and ethics of our efforts on Vanaheimr. Things were not at all as we had been led to expect and her conduct deeply troubled us.

Frijjo repeated her justification for the slaughter of prisoners – she didn't have enough loyal guards to secure a prison, adding that she didn't trust the security of the former regime's jail building. She didn't know what secrets the builder had hidden in that structure, it was in the district of the City Vanir whose residents she trusted least, and even if she ignored all of that, it was a fourth position which her forces would need to guard. Hermione had apparently been listening in to at least part of this discussion, as she now inserted herself.

"The British view the killing of prisoners as a war crime. That is the society I grew up in. I agree with their revulsion at such behavior. I will not help a leader who engages in such a practice."

"We seem to be at a stumbling block, which the two of you and Frijjo are unlikely to bridge by compromise," Odin announced. "I must impose a solution. If I understand correctly, the Questers have killed attackers in battle, but have tried to avoid that necessity. Frijjo and her forces have used killing curses. The dispute pertains only to those of Frijjo's enemies, whom the Questers have been able to stun or capture alive. If the Questers didn't help Frijjo in her battles, these captives would still be free and may have won those battles for her enemies. I decree that their rules for treating prisoners be applied to those captured in the battle of the pyramid. Frijjo and I will plan their imprisonment. How many of them are there?"

"Twenty-six," I told Odin.

"They're dead," Frijjo admitted. "As we left Vanaheimer, I gave my captain the order to execute them as traitors."

"What?!" Hermione shouted through Yggdrasil. "They were unconscious, and unidentified."

"I can't change what is done," Odin declared. "I agree it is a disgraceful and cowardly action. My decree applies going forward, if the Questers should participate in Frijjo's fight. I agree that the Questers have ample reason to be upset. This is not the role Frijjo told me they would play. I think we must come to Britain, before the meeting of Hermione's committee."

"We're not ready for that," I complained.

"It is necessary."

"My committee meets at 4:00 in the afternoon. Come at noon. Meet us in the pyramid of our Black Stone. We can talk before my committee meets. Perhaps we can reach an understanding. I'm willing to try."

"That is what we must do. I trust Frijjo also agrees." She gave less than enthusiastic assent.

Hermione was in the sitting room of her house. She said we would meet there. I must bring Neville and Harry; she would summon Viktor and Ron. Neville was easy to fetch, I was lying upon the floor of his office. I reached Harry right away and he said he would join us in five minutes. He did, but he wasn't alone. I wasn't pleased by his choice of traveling companion. "McGonagall! Why? I wanted a discussion with just the few of us, prior to tomorrow's meetings."

"Professor McGonagall is my Deputy and she convinced me that we needed an older voice in our meeting, if we were to fully consider the situation and reach the best conclusion"

"Mum, Hermione's or Neville's Mums. better choices, wouldn't you say? I saw this as a family and friends meeting."

"I'm sorry I brought her without asking first. She would have been part of your Quest if she wasn't my Deputy and she has experience with Odin and Frijjo. Please be friendly to her. That will help me."

Viktor finally arrived, giving McGonagall enough time to suspect I was complaining to Harry about her presence. "You wanted me on your Quest. I'm here to help. I won't try to take over your meeting."

My focus upon McGonagall forced Hermione to lead the meeting. She set forth the main complaint: "I feel less Quester, more conscript into Frijjo's army. Frijjo fights nasty, killing prisoners. I can't be part of that. She also seems to have almost no support among the Vanir. She doesn't understand her old world. I asked her how many of the prisoners and dead from the pyramid battle were royals. She didn't know. She said she only recognised a quarter of the living royals, although she was collecting pictures of all the royals, so she could commit their faces to memory. She admitted not having met more than three dozen of the royals. They've deliberately kept away from her. They're in hiding. Her guard is small. Our Quest team remains on Vanaheimer only because Odin forced her to send eight of her guards to reinforce the depleted number inside the pyramid. She wants us to do her fighting for her and do it on her terms. Fixing magic is a distant second for her.

"I took the purple diamond shards to Professor Spectra. He promised to tell me what he finds out before my committee meeting tomorrow. He wasn't super optimistic. He said most of the shards were burnt, but he'll try to find enough intact diamond to analyze. That reminds me, I don't think we told you that Arti, he seemed to be the royal in charge of the attack, had enough magic to do a wandless spell which was strong enough to cause the purple diamond to explode in Frijjo's hand. It practically took her hand off. He did this with his arms gooped to his sides - the Vanirs usually point their finger when they do strong magic. Also, and this is the big point, magic was still down when Arti did this. He must have had a physical connection to that diamond and used its stored magical energy to make it explode. Remember, Odin told us that we didn't do anything strong enough to cause his purple diamond in the circle of the pyramid between worlds to explode. This might be the same thing - a different magic than ours. I think it's a serious problem. Arti said his side has a secret purple diamond mind. Frijjo demanded its location. Then of course he killed himself - just like Lucius did, except there was active magic around Lucius for him to tap into for a wandless curse."

"It doesn't require any magical force," McGonagall corrected Hermione, "an experienced Witch or Wizard has enough control over their own body to kill themselves, or deaden pain, or enter a deep, almost unconscious trance. I thought you knew that. Search your memories!"

"I spoke to Cho," Viktor told us. "she's willing to stay and do some more magical engineering. She also doesn't want to fight to force Frijjo's rule upon the Vanir. She says it's not her battle. I agree. I do want all of you to stay on good terms with Odin at least long enough to learn more seid and to learn how to make or repair a White Column. We've lost the one at Azkaban and I suspect we really don't know much about the capability of the remaining one at the Durmstrang circle. I think it vital to our world's survival and independence to both learn more about seid and to find a way into seid space, which we can control without needing Odin's permission to enter seid-space. I also was thinking about Gna and how she spent so much time performing seid. Unless Odin or Yggdrasil was in league with her, she must have used an entrance to seid space from Vanaheimer. You need to find it. You need to study it enough to learn how to find an entrance from our world. I also don't think we truly understand how the dark Gods traveled to Vanaheimer. Cho said that none of you think there is a functioning transmitter on that world and their White Columns were destroyed and the Great Black Stone was certainly prohibited from transporting those Gods. There are so many secrets left on Vanaheimer. I don't want Cho fighting more battles. Keep that up and it won't be long before all of you are dead or the liquid luck has ruined your minds. That was an unmentioned problem with Minister Weasley forcing all of you back to Vanaheimer too quickly. You are all way to polluted with liquid luck. You are well past the danger point in terms of exposure. I don't know what to advise."

Score points for Viktor. He was right. It was important that we return to Quest for at least a while. Perhaps the main object of the Quest was our increased knowledge and our world's increased magical power. We had discovered many ways in which our world could be damaged or even disappeared. We had learned to defeat some of those threats. Some were vanquished. Other threats were at least warned away. No, that wasn't true. They had simply learned that we were stronger than they expected and that they couldn't just destroy us with a standard invasion. We were very vulnerable to seid attack. If we could Quest on acceptable terms, then we had a duty to Quest - at least a little longer. I said as much to the group.

"I very reluctantly agree," Hermione's eyes pleaded with Ron as she spoke these words. "I could die on Quest, but we all could be seided out of existence. That almost happened. Frijjo stopped a dark seid practitioner before we were involved. We stopped Gna just in time. We must negotiate very hard and draw red lines in stone. I'm afraid that to give up is to die. Perhaps that is how failed Questers die: someone goes into seid-space and writes them out of existence in a way in which they never did exist. I can't stand to face that. I especially couldn't stand for my failure to Quest to be the cause for the rest of you to be remotely disappeared. We are in a very scary place."

"I also reluctantly agree," Harry told me. "As Minister, I must urge what is necessary to save our community. I also think the Questers are likelier to survive by Questing than by quitting. We need to find a way around the liquid luck problem. I will ask Doctor Wright."

My brother added "if they don't fight, they won't need the luck. There is the possibility of ambush, but if they stay with Barb, she should be able to sense danger. We should insist that Bill also go with them. The more they travel about, the greater the danger, the greater the possibility of fighting. As I understand from Hermione, she has a big bottle of luck and everyone takes a sip from the communal bottle. Give everyone their own vial, to be used only right before a fight. You also won't pass all your germs around that way."

"There's no problem with germs! I do a sanitising spell after each person drinks."

"Don't you find all those extra spells a little debilitating? Don't look at me like that. You know my plan makes more sense. Does your ancient knowledge speak of any potions to rid your body of excess liquid luck?"

"For emergency use only, and I carry a bottle of that potion with me. It can save one's mind, but it can so drain a person of luck that they become extremely unlucky - almost struck-by-lightning unlucky if you take too much of that potion. It's very dangerous."

"You need to take some of the larger spiders with you to Vanaheimer," McGonagall demanded. "They would be good guards and a great surprise in a fight, especially if you use Weasley blackouts. You know that they can smell their prey at close range. They also might sense the location of an entrance to seid-space. Of course, Aagog could do that part for you."

"Do we just demand that Frijjo lead us into seid-space from Vanaheimer?"

"I think that would just put her on her guard against you and you'd be watched too closely to search for the entrance. Of course, she'll deny any knowledge of such an entrance. I predict she'll say that if such an entrance exists, it must be in the Village Vanir. Then she'll dare you to show enough courage to go searching with her in the village. Of course, that would cause a huge battle. I don't want you to risk that. I especially don't want you to risk that until it is safe for you to use the luck, again. I'm speaking as both your husband and the Minister of Magic. Neither parts of me want to see you take giant risks. Especially giant risks which are avoidable.

"Please use Percy and Callista. My government has them on Vanaheimer for a reason. Negotiation is the major alternative to warfare. I know you want to handle negotiations, but that is Percy's job. At least allow him to help. If it is safe for Percy and Callista to travel here from Vanaheimer, I'd like them to be present for tomorrow's meetings. Yes, I'd also like them to attend your meeting with Frijjo and Odin. This is as much government business as it is Quest business. You should also expect that I will discuss this topic with Shacklebolt and Mrs. Longbottom, although I won't ask you to include them in your noon meeting."

That was that. Harry was adamant. I didn't want to fight with Harry and I also knew that the Quest team needed our government's help. Harry would have to defend our actions to our own community and to Tony. I reluctantly agreed to Harry's proposal. The diplomacy was fine. Including Percy in the meeting with Frijjo and Odin was not. I would try to persuade Harry after we got home. That apparently would be right now. The meeting was already breaking up. A lot of details weren't worth considering until after the meeting with Frijjo and Odin.

We had to eat, leaving really no time left before I wanted to be in bed with Harry. I tried to nudge Harry's position while we ate dessert. Nobody had time to cook, so dessert was elderly short breads and hot cocoa. They weren't bad. I told Harry that I really needed to speak to Odin and Frijjo with just Hermione, before Percy joined us. With Cho in charge of the team back on Vanaheimer, I felt Viktor also needed to join us when Percy did.

"Fine, but I want Callista present also. After you negotiate the best deal you can, perhaps Percy and company can make it just a little bit better by asserting that your deal won't be acceptable to our government, or at least pin down details more firmly, in a way you may feel is too rude with Gods you work with."

"Fine."

I had been away. I would be away again within a day. Our mutual desire for sex, while we could get it, precluded argument. We were both tired enough that delay was not an option.

Percy, Callista, Neville and Viktor joined the four of us for breakfast. We ate in our sitting room. Neville got us off to a pleasant if difficult start. "Mona and Bronwyn spent a few hours at home and returned to Hogwarts late last night. They say they want to continue Questing. They trust Ginny and Hermione and trust that actions will be taken to make the stay on Vanaheimer safer than they have been. They rushed back, because they were afraid you'd leave without them."

"Which is exactly what I planned to do. I find their safety to be a very great responsibility, which takes up a lot of my thoughts and most of my nightmares."

"Please think about it. They've considered the risks. They think their future depends upon this. I was shocked by how much they felt like discriminated against outsiders at Hogwarts. Things haven't been smooth, even within Gryffindor."

Percy jumped into the quiet. It was instantly clear that he had closely studied the reports on Frijjo, her plans, her forces, and Vanir politics, which Hermione and I had written for him and for Harry. "It is scary that Frijjo feels too weak to insure the safety of three hard points within the City Vanir. The jail was built to be as easily defendable as the pyramid and Government House. I visited it. It's a little stone fortress. It would be very difficult to attack. It is a torturous narrow corridor passage between thick stone walls from the small entry room to any critical part of the building. I walked that path and I saw what must be hidden ports from which defenders can attack intruders. The building has an actual mote. The jail cells are in a sub-basement. If a prison break or an invasion to free them is serious, the contents of the moat can be drained into that level. There would be no possibility of escape, once two very thick doors, each with two redundant back-up doors, are sealed. Those doors are normally kept locked. If you saw that building, you would immediately realise how weak Frijjo is if she doesn't feel strong enough to make use of it."

"That doesn't disagree with anything we know," Hermione told him. "Since we are not eager to augment Frijjo's army or to engage in future battles, that means we restrict ourselves to the pyramid and Government House for now. It also means we must focus upon encouraging Frijjo to negotiate a solution. As we told you, and as you already knew from your own contacts, Frijjo appears close to a détente with the Council. Unless she is forced to make concessions to some of the royals, which Council can't stomach, I think that part of the picture will fall into place."

"Good. We come to the next problem. Frijjo plans to buy off the various small royal factions who lack any semblance of claim to the throne or even proximity to the throne. I understand she hopes they will settle for an allowance from the government. The problem is that takes money and apparently Frijjo has next to none. It is uncertain she can even keep her capital fed. That is a big problem. Could Odin be persuaded to gift her some gold or silver?"

"Don't know. It's her job to make the ask, not ours. That will be an indicator of just how supportive Odin is. She told me she wanted to be Queen Frijjo to get the new government started and the economy well launched. Callista has researched Vanir history. Please tell them what you found, dear."

"I talked to several members of Council, two history guys from the museum, and I checked a half dozen history books. Only two queens in all of Vanir history. As a rule, the Vanir are unaccepting of queens. They believe in male rule. It wasn't always a royal family. In ancient days, Gods ruled. One powerful Goddess is said to have bested the ruling God in battle, after he rather erratically mistreated the common Vanir. She was fully accepted and ruled for over a hundred years, before she died fighting invading Aesir. The lesser God who replaced her started the royal family, probably because his sons lacked Godly powers. Until Odin conquered the Vanir, rule was by royal males and that rule was absolute. Almost all truly important government posts were held by lesser royal males - almost never a female in a key position. Males ruled, likely copying the pattern of Gods ruling. If the king died, they would go first to male sons, but unlike our British friends, they will then go to first cousins, before they consider daughters of the late king. Also, unlike the British, there is no fixed formula for which son, or which male cousin is the successor. The dying king chooses, but if the king dies unexpectedly... One queen was accepted, when no sons or first cousins survived a long period of warfare. It was a two-decade civil war, over three thousands of our years ago. It was just before Frijjo was born. The Queen lasted three years. She was murdered and the father of the man Frijjo married became the new king. Likely he was the murderer. As queen, Frijjo's role would have been to bear and educate royal children - males to rule, females to be wifed out for political or financial gain to the king. Apart from that, her duties would be largely ceremonial. She started Quest after a semi-secret marriage, attended only by royals and a few key others, such as the Servers. She took the risk of Quest to raise her status and independence a bit. She birthed her son in secret and left on Quest a month later. After she left, the marriage and the heir became public. Two months later, which was close to three months into the Quest, the Quest failed, when Odin essentially kidnapped her. if the Quest had merely failed, without assignment of blame, and Odin had permitted Frijjo to return home, her position would have been weak. But, Odin blamed Frijjo for the Quest's failure, claiming she was determined to bed him, in violation of Quest rules.

"Frijjo's brother, his name was Freyr - but not the one Ginny met, commanded the Vanir military. The marriage of Frijjo to Bronek had sealed the throne for Bronek and the military leadership for Freyr. They became joined at the hip, but Frijjo's humiliation upset things. Bronek renounced Frijjo and took up with a younger favorite at court - the histories imply that an existing affair became open. Freyr was in an awful position and decided his best hope was to invade Asgard, rescuing both Frijjo and Vanir honor. Either he was an awful general, the few remaining Aesir were far stronger than he imagined, or Bronek betrayed him. He lost, badly. Thousands of Vanir, including many royals were killed. Freyr survived with the remnants of his invasion force, but Odin and several dozen Aesir followed him back to Vanir. Using what the historical text described as 'unknown, most fearful weapons', the Aesir defeated and killed Freyr, then quickly pounced upon a mass of royals, killing them and King Bronek. Frijjo's child was hustled off to secure refuge. Odin never found him. From that point on, Odin controlled Vanaheimer. He established the Council. They were largely independent in their actions but could cause nothing to happen outside Vanaheimr. It was in the interest of just about everyone on Vanaheimr, particularly the Council, but also the male royals, that Frijjo's memory be tarnished, and so it was and with Odin's active support. It is no surprise that she has gained so little traction on her world."

"That's interesting information, but what does it tell us that is at all useful. It says Frijjo isn't acceptable," Ron seemed annoyed that a long explanation ended thus.

"It tells us more than that," Percy objected. "It says that it would be very easy to provoke a lethal scramble among the likely claimants to the throne. That might occur without any outside provocation. Arti had an iffy claim to the throne but stepped into the fray. Others will do the same. Frijjo can work with this. If our government wants her to rule, which I'm not saying we do, we could give a push here and a push there to whittle down the ranks of her foes. It says that we need to plot out the succession tree. Those with the best claims are likely the major players. If Frijjo is very wise and very lucky, one of close-to-the-top contenders will ally with her to gain an edge over his better positioned rivals. Despite her problems with Arti, I believe Frijjo must ally with a leading Melani contender, if she is to survive. I also think it is wishful thinking to believe that she can be a transition placeholder for more than a year. She's not trusted enough for that and is too unnatural a choice. Vanir monarchs have only left office by death or total incapacity. They have had their equivalent of regents, when the only son of the dead king was very young. That has rarely ended well."

Frijjo and Odin showed up two hours early. We all hurried to the pyramid to meet them. We had no sooner taken our seats around a massive table Hermione and I had Apparated into the pyramid than Odin jumped right into the meeting, without pleasantries: "We have little time, so I ask everyone to state their position. Ginny and Hermione will go first."

"I can't give you our final answer until Hermione's committee meets. Our recommendation will be that we are willing to continue the Quest and build the purple-diamond circle and White Columns in Government House, but we are not willing to fight in Frijjo's civil war. Depending upon how safe Vanaheimer becomes, we will decide later about building a circle in the village Vana. That is consistent with the Quest assignment which you and Yggdrasil gave us. If we return to Vanaheimr, likely we will take more aurors and spiders for our own protection. If Frijjo wants to be the ruler or a key advisor to the ruler or just an interim regent for a year, then she must sell that to the Vanir. We will not impose who rule by force. We are willing to assist in diplomatic negotiations among the factions. We can be facilitators and even mediators, but we will not be Frijjo's fighters. The Committee may not permit us to be that much."

"No! Questers are required to serve the local Gods and Goddesses. I am the major local Goddess. Your mission was to serve my needs. I need to gain control of my world. I do not wish to be a tyrant, only to restore magic and order for my people."

"You ask too much help and expose them to too much danger, for purposes which are not mine. In the end, their mission is what I say it is."

Our meeting turned more contentious, with Frijjo demanding that Odin order us back to Vanaheimer, under pain of forfeiting our Quest and being seid-written out of existence. Her demeanor as much as her words screamed that she was losing it. The stress of trying to seize control of her world was proving too much for her. Odin looked at her with pity but refused her request.

"No, Quest is not a civil war. Ginny and Hermione have behaved well. I will not permit you to write their deaths. If they are to help you, then you must agree a plan that is acceptable to them. You must fight your own war. This is just one more reason why I won't allow you to return to seid-space. You are a Goddess and you are on Vanaheimer, but it seems your people do not accept you as their Goddess. You can't alter that by civil war. You must win the support of your people, just as you must win the support of these Questers. By law, they may withdraw from the Quest without penalty. This is an extension of their Durmstrang stop, forced by multiple emergencies. They never heard the formal speech of renunciation and never formally vowed their acceptance of the second half of Quest. They are under my protection. You remain bound by the requirement not to harm my Questers. Is that clear?"

Frijjo's expression said this was all too clear to her, as she softly replied "yes."

"You need purple-diamond circles and the Questers have agreed to build one immediately. They greatly improved the circle inside your pyramid. Aren't those actions a big help to you and your people? Isn't that what you requested me to ask the Questers to do for you?"

"Yes. I admit that helps. It just doesn't help enough. I must first secure the capital and then secure the Village Vana. I am the Goddess at this stage of the Quest. They owe me their support to accomplish these very vital goals. My people are at risk of being ruled by charlatan royals who demand absolute royal authority. They aren't even the rightful royal rulers. I trusted Arti and he betrayed me. Now it appears that I also cannot trust Ginny and Hermione."

"We will never accept you as a superior being to ourselves. We will never believe we owe you servitude. You are not our Goddess. Even your own people seem not to accept you as their Goddess. We've researched your people's history. There was only one female royal ruler in your history, and she was murdered almost at once. You are not considered a legitimate royal ruler. You can't raise your own army, so you demand that we fight for you. It's not our civil war. We won't do it. If Quest demands that, then we won't Quest."

Frijjo stared at me in anger. "Who would you have rule the Vanir. They haven't had their independence in millennia. They must be eased into it, lest charlatans take power and do great harm to Vanaheimr and all of Odin's worlds. You heard Arti. Do you think better Arti than me? He would surely attack Terra, once he secured Vanaheimer. He was not at all better than Gna, Freyr, and Miomor."

"Yet Miomor is the only one of the four you didn't support. You have threatened to invade our world. You have threatened more than once to kill us. You would do so in revenge for Freyr, whom you now say was very bad. The truth is you hardly understand your world any better than we do. You are a stranger to it. Listen to yourself: even now you refer to the Vanir as 'they', not 'we'. You think of yourself as an Aesir Goddess, not as a fellow Vanir to your people. You think of us not even that well and certainly not as allies. You see us as your very great inferiors, whom you can command to do your bidding. Well, you can't. We will not work with you on those terms."

"You are too ignorant to even realise how much you don't understand. You came to Odin and me with no knowledge that seid even existed. You certainly had zero capability to perform seid. You didn't know that Yggdrasil existed, that Odin and I are real, that there were inhabited worlds other than your own."

"Our introduction was to Vili and you. Vili only impersonated Odin. And yes, we had travelled to other worlds. Not worlds with humans, but worlds with Unicorns, Elves, and Goblins. We were already learning rapidly. We are not going to get along unless you are willing to treat us as equals. You have never been our Goddess. We have learned enough to know that you've used the technology of the ancient Aesir to live very long and learn very much, but you started life as no better than us."

"I was a royal. I was to be queen of my people."

"Married to a very old king, consigned to child-bearing and ceremonial tasks, and to have died millennia ago. As queen, you would have had no power. You have no real power now. We have helped you. You would have lost both battles if we hadn't done most of the fighting. You would lie dead now. If we hadn't poured magical energy into you and attended to your wounds you would have died without ever regaining consciousness. We have been most loyal to you. If we wanted you dead, you would be dead. We didn't need to take any action to kill you, merely step aside and let your 'fellow' Vanir do the deed. You turned us into your assistant war criminals. You murdered prisoners whom we had stunned. You are far too blood-thirsty for our taste. How can we trust you? We were supposed to have an easy, pleasant Quest stop after defeating the rulers of Hel for Odin. Instead, we've had battle after battle on your world. It now seems pointless. And to answer your question, we would have an elected Council rule Vanaheimr."

"Yes, you have been a great help. Yes, I truly am grateful for your help. But yes, if you abandon me this all comes crashing down and we all get a Vanaheimer not at all to our liking. You do help your own world by helping me. I thought Odin explained that to you. That's why you were sent here to serve, let's agree to say... help me. Odin thinks it important that I guide my people to a peaceful, magical future. I do not seek to rule for my own benefit. I will accept whatever position works for my people and allows me to guide them toward a bright future. I am not a tyrant in the making. I admit, I was wrong about Gna, Freyr, and Miomor. You were right about them. I bear you no ill over their deaths. I've said that before. I took back my threats against you. Odin will attest to that. I am now fully cooperating with you."

"You are keeping vital secrets."

"Such as?"

"The size of your forces, the size of the opposing forces, the fact and location of your world's entrance into seid space, which presents an extreme vulnerability."

"There is no entrance to seid-space from Vanaheimer, only from Asgard."

"You know that can't be true. Neither Odin nor Yggdrasil would have allowed Gna to repeatedly enter seid-space from Asgard."

"I certainly would have denied her entry. I also never taught her seid. Yggdrasil would do no such thing. The dark Gods must have taught her. I assumed they had their own route into seid space. They were on Vanaheimer, but they must have come from elsewhere. Yggdrasil says that Vanaheimer's Great Black Stone denies allowing them entry to its world. Yggdrasil believes it, so I also must believe. There may well be an entry port to seid-space from Vanaheimer. I've spent a fair amount of time there and never encountered it. As you know, I destroyed the White Columns, thinking that confined the Vanir to their own world, where they couldn't carry out their schemes against the rest of us."

"That's unfair," Frijjo complained. "Most Vanir only care about restoring magic and prosperity to our own world. Freyr, Miomor, and Gna had allies and plans which I and, I'm sure, virtually no other Vanir, knew anything about. We don't know that Arti wanted anything beyond ruling Vanaheimer."

"Maybe so. To an old Aesir the numbers of you Vanir is quite frightening, when coupled with the drive for conquest we just saw in your fellows. I don't wish to raise the level of enmity. We must work together. You must treat the Questers as equals. I see all of you as my rightful successors. We must find a way for the Questers to help the Vanir, without fighting and killing those who oppose you. You must find a peaceful way to guide your people. Only you can gain the acceptance and support of your people. If I intervene, that just makes you more foreign. Your people have no experience or love for the Questers. There is no way they can set you up to rule your people. I returned you to your world to help your people, not to kill them and force them to accept your rule. You may be right that you know better than they, but that means nothing if they don't believe that.

"You know I tread lightly on Asgard, despite being more powerful than you and having far fewer to rule The Aesir must know that I accept their fundamental rights and protect what is most dear to them. Without that, I am nothing. You must win the support of your people. You do that by being trust-worthy and by providing peace and improving their lives. The Questers were sent to help you improve the lives of your people. You told me that restoring magic was the most important thing for the Vanir. The Questers are willing to do that, but no more.

"That must be the objective of this afternoon's meeting. I think Ginny and Hermione have tried to tell you what the limits of acceptability are to their people. This afternoon, you must listen before you argue and demand. Ginny's people are as proud as you are. Your approach has failed you. Too many of your people have played you for the fool - a very powerful fool, but a fool, nonetheless. Don't be upset. I know Ve and Vili did the same to me. We are the better fighters, but trickery nearly beat us. Now Ginny and Hermione think that you have tricked and manipulated them. You must fix that."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – To Quest Or Not To Quest**

"The purpose of this meeting is to consider whether or not, and on what terms, our Quest team will continue to Quest on Vanaheimer, or anywhere," Hermione announced immediately after calling the meeting together. "Each government must agree to allow the Quester or Questers from its community to continue and to impose whatever limits it feels appropriate to that participation. Odin wishes to frame the situation."

"The worlds of my domain, perhaps I should say of my former domain, are very closely linked, both by the presence of descendants of the ancient Aesir and because of the Black Stones and White Columns linking them to Yggdrasil and permitting travel among these worlds. A bad, aggressive government on one of these worlds is a threat to all of them. Invasions can and have happened. Vanaheimer was recently taken over by those allied with dark Gods. They plotted to change the histories of all of us by tampering with past and future history through edits in seid-space. These edits would have meant that some of you here, including myself, never existed. Our places would have been taken by evil beings.

"Your Questers played the key role in preventing this from happening. They have given all of us a second chance. Removing the dark Gods and their evil allies from the Vanir government left Vanaheimer in chaos, impoverished, and with magic still diminished. I sent this Quest team to restore and perfect magic, thinking the political situation was in far better shape than it was. Some of Frijjo's key allies were enemies, seeking to install themselves as absolute royal rulers, I don't know to what end, but believe they intended to conquer at least my world and make themselves strong enough to attack yours, by stealing our secrets and wealth. I implore you to continue the Quest for all our sakes. We will structure the continuation of the Quest in a way which does not turn the Questers into virtually Frijjo's army or ask the Questers to help impose a government upon the Vanir. They will be asked only to restore magic, consult, advise, and negotiate. For Frijjo, or for whomever the Vanir choose. I know this is not your people's civil war and that you do not wish your daughters to fight in it. I agree."

"Frijjo also wishes to speak, before the committee begins its discussion. Like Odin, she has agreed to answer any questions you have."

"I come seeking help. I do so honestly. I did not lie to Ginny, Hermione, or Odin about my status among my people. I believed my position was stronger than I later found it to be. I was more shocked by Arti's betrayal than anyone. I admit it was a near fatal blow to my plans and that it would have been fatal to me, without their help. I know that I offended their ethics by killing the prisoners whom they captured. I felt I had no choice. It was kill them or release them – I lacked the ability to imprison them for more than a day. That is an admission of how weak my position has become."

I thought she would say more, but she sat down.

Tony spoke next. "The Quest has already caused serious problems for our communities. The only acceptable reason for Questing is to improve our safety and prosperity going forward. I am very worried by the threat posed by bad actors controlling seid space. I have been informed that the Questers believe there is an entry to seid space on Vanaheimer and that is how Gna and the dark Gods were able to travel there and try to destroy us through seid. That must not be allowed to happen. There are a few ways to prevent this. The most direct is to sever the links between our world and the others, but this limits what our communities might potentially gain through the exchange of knowledge with others and doesn't prevent a seid attack, although it removes any motive beyond simple revenge and mayhem. The second approach is a severe affront to our morality: eliminate Vanaheimer. That is a last-ditch action. It also could inspire a revenge attack in seid space. The third approach is for the Questers to help right conditions on Vanaheimer, while enough of our people learn enough seid to provide for a mutually assured destruction stand-off to prevent any seid attack. This requires that we control an entry to seid-space. Those may be extreme options, but we have a duty to protect our peoples. Unless anyone has a better alternative, we must choose among those options."

There was shocked silence.

"Was that a threat?" Frijjo finally exclaimed. "My people will not be bullied."

"You've threatened to invade us more than once. Your former pal Gna did invade us with demons. The Aesir also invaded us. We are not your playground. We will ensure our safety. I assure you that we have the means to do so. You are the biggest threat, at present. Your total disdain for us as inferiors and your belief that you have a right to treat us however you choose, make you very dangerous. You also seem emotionally unstable."

"That is most unfair. I have come in peace to seek your help."

"I'm not a fool. I have reports on every word you have uttered to the Questers, on every instance in which you have tricked and manipulated, on every instance discovered where Gna tried to destroy us. You supported Gna and Freyr. They both conspired to harm us. You come in peace with the open, smiley face today, because you are desperate for help, but what will your attitude be after you succeed in taking control of a Vanaheimer with greatly improved magic? Will we see the old, domineering, duplicitous Frijjo again? How can we trust you? You have no morals."

"The Quest has caused a lot of problems and turmoil in our community," Harry complained. "Frijjo is not one my government is eager to help. Her attitude of great superiority and "Adrienne doesn't matter" are very grating. All the members of our community matter. Justice matters. We don't slaughter prisoners. We've been through the Voldemort period of a government imposed by force and violence, which harmed many of our most vulnerable citizens. I'm afraid we are helping Frijjo to do that to her people. She has given us no reason to trust her. I don't want my wife or any member of my community risking death to support Frijjo. I don't see the benefit. When our government initially supported the Quest, we had not even a hint that it would occur mostly on other worlds. Families are split, because of the females-only rule and then a Quester is drugged and impregnated, and Frijjo thinks that's just us doing our necessary service to Gods. She and Odin did not oppose a revenge attack for killing in self-defense a nasty werewolf who preyed upon children. We didn't even have any way of knowing that he wasn't native to our world, but no, we had committed the inexcusable sin of killing an Aesir, who was a mass murderer. Why should we put our lives on the line to protect such privilege? I can't condone it. Ginny and Hermione have learned a lot, but thus far very little which can translate to helping our community. Seid could be important, but we have no independent access to seid-space, so what's the point?"

A very worried King Gobbledygook stammered "Quest is important. Quest is sacred to Goblins. My government supports Quest. You send more Questers, so losses bigger. I will send more female Goblins if this will help."

"I'm willing to send more Elves," Cotto promised, "but conditions must be right. I'm not as happy with the Quest as King Gobbledygook. It must make more sense. Much treachery has happened. I fear I hurt those who trusted me."

"Perhaps we should have a Goblin Quest to Vanaheimer," Odin sounded upset, his expression suggested he was deliberately goading me.

"No! The prophecy is clear: this Quest must be led by the Mother and her Muse. All the peoples who think from this world must participate. If the Witches don't lead the Quest, my Goblins will not participate. I did not mean to confuse you."

"I am willing to Quest to repair magic," I told Odin, "but I have problems. I would have handled the Quest differently if I knew how dangerous Vanaheimer is and how weak Frijjo's position is. I certainly would not have brought Hogwarts students. I am missing basic facts. We were rushed to move to fast. I won't do that again. I must understand what I am getting my team into. It must benefit our world. I don't buy that Frijjo overseeing her world makes my world safer. Only one Vanir who still lives has threatened to invade this world. That Vanir is Frijjo. I think the greatest threat to my world lies in seid-space. I think that is the first place we need to go. I am certain there is an entry point to seid-space on Vanaheimer. That is a great threat. I can't just take my world's resources to work, and probably fight, on Vanaheimer, when my world is in danger. Only one person whom I know to have access to seid-space threatened to erase us from history. As you know, since you were there, that person also was Frijjo. I feel guilty helping Frijjo, while she threatens everyone I love and openly regards all of us as inferiors who must be subservient to her. It seems very wrong. I understand that Arti betrayed Frijjo, but I am worried that those who last invaded the pyramid had rings which had the power to open the pyramid entrance. Why?"

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious: I have other traitors on top of Arti. I admit I am feeling my way as I try to establish myself on my home world. I was a prisoner for thousands of your years. My liberation can also be my people's liberation from control by the Aesir. I believe that I must take the lead, because I am the only Vanir with an understanding of all of Odin's worlds and a solid understanding of seid. I know forgotten magicks, which I can share with my people. The re-establishment of a thriving, magical people on Vanaheimer will benefit all of us. Moreover, it is the moral thing to do. I have told you what I thought you needed to know to work on our circles. It made no sense to try to educate you on our culture and politics. Besides, you have your own ambassadors to do that. I have talked to Percy..."

"It's not true that you have been a prisoner for thousands of years. You essentially co-ruled Asgard with Ve and then with Vili, while Odin wandered. Odin wandered a lot. You spent time alone in seid space. We have seen how easy it is to exit seid space to another world. You could easily have escaped at any time. For some reason, you chose not to."

"I stayed to be my people's voice before Odin. I have worked ceaselessly to free my people. The Vanir give me no credit for this, but it has been by constant work."

A Stone message flashed into my mind from Hermione. **I know how to enter seid space from our world. At least I know how to set up the conditions to do so after a seid lesson. I'm certain Frijjo knows this far better than I. Odin taught us how to find and remount the ribbon of time at the point where we left it. I don't know how long that route stays open, but we must find out.**

"... discuss what my wife and my government is willing to do to assist Vanaheimer in general and Frijjo in particular. We also should discuss what we expect in return and what conditions we require on Vanaheimer for the safety of our Questers. I think we must negotiate specific protections and not be limited by Quest rules. I am willing to support a return to Vanaheimer if all of that can be worked out. I will ask my wife to lead her team back home at the first instance of Frijjo's prior talk of us as inferiors with a duty to assist her, or team members as not counting or being expendable, or threats against our world. Frijjo must behave in word and in deed. Of course, she must honor whatever agreement we reach."

"Of course," Odin declared. "When I said that Ginny, Hermione, Frijjo and both of your peoples are to be the successors to me and my fellow Aesir, that was the same thing as saying you must be equals from this point onward. My time is coming to an end as a corporeal being, but the worlds of my domain must not disappear with me. You both must help the Venera, who are also having problems, but that is a discussion for another time. So, yes, you must negotiate. I must intrude on negotiations to keep all moving forward cooperatively. You may certainly have time. I and Frijjo can certainly teach you more seid, before your Questers and whomever else you feel you must send, return to Vanaheimer. I'm sure Frijjo agrees with this approach."

Of course, Frijjo declared that she did. It was hardly a freely given agreement. Despite that, the negotiations progressed with surprising ease. Frijjo told us that she had three minor Goddesses, and roughly a hundred magical and two hundred nonmagical fighters, whom she fully trusted. She also had ninety loyal government officials and one Councilwoman, whom she thought supported her. Among the royals, she thought a handful were close to pledging their support. That wasn't a lot in a city of a million and a world of double that size. It again struck me as strange how low the populations of Vanaheimer and Asgard were. Frijjo obviously hedged when asked about Vanir magic, weapons, and fighting styles with which we might not yet be familiar. Hermione pressed her, saying it was important, given how much fighting we had been forced into on Vanaheimer. This knowledge would improve everyone's safety.

"You know all of the basics. If you're not interested in fighting on our behalf, I'm not inclined to share our secrets. That makes my people less safe."

"That isn't helpful!" Odin criticised.

"They are either allies or they aren't. I welcome their magical engineering assistance but see no benefit in sharing secrets with them. Alright, if you must know, you should be aware that assassination with poison is not uncommon, especially among our royals."

"That would certainly have been useful to know in advance," Harry complained.

I sent a Stone message to Cho telling her that our fighting strategies, weapons, and magic must be kept secret from the Vanir, which is what Frijjo was doing to us. All our weapons, critical supplies, and especially diamonds and other crystals must travel with them to Asgard and be guarded. And they must constantly check for poison. Not a great way to start a 'cooperative alliance', but that was reality.

We agreed that my team would spend two weeks on Asgard, learning more seid and beginning our education on building white columns. Then a week back home. then back to Vanaheimer for three weeks of work at Government House. Frijjo would send more fighters to the pyramid almost immediately and the Questers would immediately depart for Asgard. All of us would receive education and pampering.

In addition to building a purple-diamond circle at Government House and beginning the rebuilding of the White Columns, the truth-tellers on our team would assist Frijjo in determining if proposed allies were truly allies, and if those she was negotiating with would honor their agreements. Percy and Callista would facilitate negotiations with Council and the various groups of royals.

Juvenile and two adult spiders would patrol the pyramid. They could hunt in the dark by smell and fight in the absence of magic. They would be divided into teams, with one team receiving seid training while the other team was on guard and then swapping jobs.

Frijjo mentioned that "Hermione's truth serum would aid in screening possible allies. It is a sensible addition to an over-reliance upon truth-tellers."

"No!" Hermione's strong rejection shocked the entire group. "That is one of our more useful secrets. If you aren't sharing secrets, then neither should we."

"The area in Government House where the circle and White Columns will be built should have the same spider guards as the pyramid. Those are the two likeliest spots, apart from Village Vana, for an entry to seid-space. The spiders can search for that entrance."

"No!" Frijjo's objection was as vehement as Hermione's objection had been. "I won't be able to feel safe working around the spiders."

"Better you feel a little unsafe, than that we feel very unsafe on your world," Hermione answered her. "You say we must trust you. That trusting goes in both directions."

"Play nicely," Odin demanded. The spider guards seem a reasonable precaution, since Frijjo's faction has proven incapable of keeping the Questers safe."

It was obvious that Frijjo's agreement to this was beyond grudging. She knew she had no other choice.

Perhaps in response to Frijjo's great unhappiness, Odin agreed to give Frijjo a ton of gold and five tons of silver to improve the economy of the City Vanir and to purchase food. There was no doubt this would greatly improve her position. Nobody had ever so much as hinted to us that the Vanir were immune to bribes.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 - The Committee Decides**

Some members of the Committee wanted to talk about the Hogwarts students and others who might come with us on the Vanaheimer leg of our Quest. McGonagall worried that the students' parents would object and blame Hogwarts for allowing their daughters to participate in such dangerous activities. I explained that I intended to do my best to make our return to Vanaheimer far safer than the prior two visits. I also stressed that both Mona and Bronwyn had discussed the matter with their parents and had received parental permission to join us. Mona's parents were aware of the injury their daughter sustained and felt that their daughter would learn enough to justify the risk. I told McGonagall "the parents clearly don't view Hogwarts as all that safe or welcoming. Their daughters felt much better treated and appreciated on Quest. Here are the notes they sent."

"I admit Hogwarts must do far better in stopping the hazing of the Muggle-born and non-English students. I have tried. Dumbledore tried. I know that Neville has tried very hard. Some things are just very difficult to change. I feel that we have moved past the days when students were a risk of lethal attack at Hogwarts. Hogwarts gets few students from Wales. I can't remember a Lebanese student. At least they are in Gryffindor. I shall make a point of visiting the Gryffindor common room and reminding the Gryffindors that they are each stronger when they stand together and defend their fellows."

"I've already had that talk," Neville told her. "The students' response was very positive. I also expelled a Slytherin who assaulted Mona and sent the other Slytherin who set Bronwyn afire to my mother. Mother says she will prosecute. I believe that sent a most needed message. I've spoken to both girls. They each enjoy Questing. They also think it will lead to greater opportunities after they graduate. I agree with them. Ginny should take them with her."

Hermione lost control of the meeting for a minute, as McGonagall harrumphed, declaring that a recommendation likely to harm Hogwarts. Meanwhile Tony asked to see the letters. I handed them too him. He stared at them intently, declaring: "I don't think the girls wrote the letters themselves, so I think you should respect the parents' decision to allow their daughters to Quest."

That opinion carried the day. Adding Bill was next up. Some, especially King Gobbledygook, felt that adding a male was not in strict accord with how a Quest should be run. Odin answered that this hadn't been quite a normal Quest and he would permit Bill. The King volunteered his wife and two other Goblin females in their mid-twenties, whom he described as graduates of Torva's physical training class. "(That's her equivalent of Harry's Dumbledore's Army training, but with a greater emphasis on sword fighting)," the King whispered so softly in my ear that I had to Stone-speak the words for Hermione, who was seated right next to me. The King's offer was accepted. As I was still thinking about this, I noticed Cotto had led Odin away from the meeting table for a whispered exchange. As the discussion ended, Cotto saw me staring at him and gave me a two-handed thumbs up sign. I took this to mean that he was sending additional Elves with us, but that Frijjo wasn't to know about this. What could possibly go wrong?

What could go wrong was apparently the spiders. Frijjo apparently was strongly opposed to spiders in Government House and wanted to re-litigate our prior decision. She directed her concerns at Tony. "Both my people and the Aesir are in mortal fear of the Acromantula. We fought bloody battles to remove them from our land. They once excluded the Vanir from seid-space. I fear they will do so again. I can stand the Aagog-sized spiders, but the adults chill me to the bone. I couldn't work with them hovering around me. My hands would be unsteady, and accidents would be unavoidable. I am trying to win the hearts of my people. If I bring an adult Acromantula to Government House, I am finished. I will be pariah, traitor, friend of the monsters. So will Ginny. I accept the presence of the spiders to help guard the pyramid. Few Vanir go there, and the Servers don't seem to mind their presence. Can't we just leave it at that - just Aagog and perhaps one equally small spider at Government House?"

I could tell from the front four limbs beating a staccato rhythm on the stone floor that Aagog's father, Agog, leader of the Aragog clan, was upset by what he was hearing. I kept waiting for him to speak, but he did not. His wife, Aragag, placed one leg on his back. This seemed to calm him. At least the drumbeat ceased and everyone at the table visibly calmed. Aragag told us "that will be acceptable. We will pick a younger sister to send with Aagog."

This was acceptable and an obviously relieved Frijjo apologised to Agog "I'm sorry, I know it's silly, but my political position is so precarious - I can't risk offending any... of my people. Clearly Frijjo did not fear the Aagog-sized spiders. Agog just nodded in response.

Firenze was talking about using Centaurs trancing in the Sacred Cavern and linked through him to his whale pod to create what he called a predictive engine to give an advance warning of hazards, which my Quest team might encounter on Vanaheimer. Just an hour's advance warning, communicated to me through our Stone, could allow us to convert an opponent's intended trap of us into our trap of them. This sounded promising, but Firenze quickly switched into a mathematical analysis of how this could work. It was way beyond me. I took the opportunity to wonder over to the refreshment table for some tea and scones. All the controversy had left me in need of... something other than Firenze's math. As I approached the table, the smell of coffee changed selection to coffee and shortbread. As I was single-mindedly loading my plate, I felt a hand upon my left shoulder. It was Tony.

"Please accept what I am about to propose to the Committee. I want to add two more soldiers to the team. Also, since we are back to including males, I'd like to reinstate Professor Sturluson to your team. I know he was initially added as an Odin expert, but his training really prepares him to study any society and to glean hints about future actions from their myths and recorded history. This idea came to me as I listened to your Professor Firenze. You do need another library researcher and general interviewer to assist Callista." The hand left my shoulder and Tony moved on to getting his own coffee. I returned to my seat in time to approve Firenze's project. I trusted Firenze and recognised that he had a very strong need to help. I had no idea whether his plan could possibly work - prophesy at such a great distance was... it was something I had never even a hint about.

I supported Tony's proposal. That was the last suggested tweak to my team. We finally turned to the question of voting whether to approve the return to Vanaheimer. I was pleased that Harry insisted upon an explicit amendment that I was authorised by all to end the Quest at any time, either if it appeared pointless or if security could not be maintained. This was both leverage over Frijjo and cover with the Goblins and Centaurs should I feed a need to abandon either this Quest stop or the entire Quest. The amendment and the approval to Quest were approved by all, but I sensed a lot of reluctance from King Gobbledygook and Firenze on Harry's amendment.

I told Odin that we would join him and the rest of my team on Asgard late tomorrow. Harry corrected me: "It will have to be late day after tomorrow. We have a couple of serious government problems for which I require Hermione's and my wife's truth-telling skills and judgment. I hope you can understand. This involves two of the greatest threats our community has faced since the death of Voldemort. I suppose it is also going to take an extra day to round up and organize the expanded group of Questers."

Odin understood. Frijjo did not want to understand, but what could she do? I didn't understand and that worried me. I was especially worried that nobody had said a word to us about what was happening here in Britain.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 – What Was So Bad That Harry Had To Wait To Tell Me**

"You have me really worried, Harry. What's so bad that you had to wait to tell me? We promised to tell each other everything, no matter how bad, while I was away. I told you about the attack on the pyramid."

"I know. Your dad made me promise that…"

"My Dad is no longer Minister, you are, so that excuse is gone. You need to be honest with me. What happened? We agreed that complete honesty was the approach which would make our separation more manageable for both of us. We've both seen how trying to protect my mother from his problems and worries cost my father his most effective advisor, led to Prudence, and almost ended his marriage. I don't want that to happen to us. My mother was never the poor, scared, traditional, little homemaker my father viewed her as. She is stronger than he is. She was in the Order. She killed Bella. They began their relationship as fellow fighters in the first Voldemort War. My father made a very serious mistake in being overly protective. It wasn't protective, it was demeaning. It hurt Mum not knowing the exact problems Dad was having as Minister. She would have been a far better confidante and advisor than Prudence. Prudence is smart, but she is naïve, and she isn't a fighter. I'm a fighter. I've killed. We've fought together. I'm leading a Quest. I've got as big a target on my back as you do. I know that I can be one of your best advisors. My Dad shoved me aside, even on Quest matters. I won't have you do the same."

Harry looked really worried as he babbled "I'm sorry... so sorry. I know... what we agreed. You've held up your end. Your father... well, you know how your Dad is... I guess I am in the habit of catering to his... whims err views. I am sorry. I promise to do better. This is so hard. Your Dad was so obviously hurting... he was afraid he'd cause your death with the Prudence business... he does really know how awful a job Prudence did, he feels... guilty. Well, he is guilty, but he thinks he is doing his best to do right by everyone he owes a debt... he was floundering, I feared for his mental health - didn't want to cause him to worry more about... your safety. I was wrong. I WILL do better. You should be able to trust me; you can trust me. Of course, you can."

"Okay, Harry, I believe you will be better in future and I'll just drop it. Know that I am determined that we handle your term as Minister a lot better than my parents did. It's best for you to just tell me what happened while I was away.

"The really bad part is that the Death Eaters attacked the new school in Wales. We never should have had a Muggle-born-only school. It was far too inviting a target. More of the older students should be at Hogwarts, at least all the younger new arrivals should have been sent there. Everything has happened so fast. I've mentioned this to McGonagall. She agrees about the younger new arrivals but disagrees on the older students. Anyhow, this happened because..."

"Let's get Ron and Hermione here and do this once, with all our input. I also want Neville."

Harry gave a contrite nod, so I summoned the others.

"What else?"

"Roger is flying back to England as we speak. He will report to Special Branch tomorrow morning, at least he will if he follows the agreed plan. I want to have all my truth-tellers present for that. I'm also guessing you know some Confunding tricks which my aurors don't know."

"Do I need to fetch Cissy."

"No, we should be fine without her and I really don't want her to know too much about this. She tends to blurt things she shouldn't. There's more. Narcissa finally showed up. She made a little speech at the Ministry lobby, saying that she had tried to rejoin the Quest, but found your camp on Asgard was abandoned. She has declared that you obviously abandoned your Quest and so she is free to start her own and expects the full support of my government, which I most certainly don't intend to give her."

Everyone was now present, so Harry, Ron, and Neville took turns telling us about the attack on the Wales school. A dozen Death Eaters had attacked. They had two Giants and a Dementor with them, plus a handful of demons. They were repulsed, but there were casualties and the school was burned. An existing building had been adapted for the school and it was more wood than stone, meaning not only that it could be burned, but that it couldn't support nearly the level of magical protections that a stone building could. The defenders had fought bravely. They had used the 'Kill!' curse, both singly and paired up. Six Death Eaters, a Giant, and all the Demons were killed. Fifteen students, two aurors, two kitchen Elves, and two professors were also dead. More, including Prudence, were injured. It was a giant mess. If aurors had not arrived to reinforce the school, more friendlies would have been burned alive. The aurors captured four Death Eaters and a Giant. They are in three Gringotts vaults at present. McGonagall was not demanding that they be released from this cruel imprisonment and Neville's Mum planned a quick trial. She had all the evidence she would ever have, not expecting the captives to reveal the organiser of the attack. Harry wanted to know if it might be possible for us to travel to seid-space to learn more about the instigation and planning for this attack. It had been very well coordinated.

The floo network had gone down. There had been a major incident in Sheffield, requiring many aurors to intervene to capture a phoney-Muggle-performer of wild magic and to obliviate over a hundred Muggles. Tony was very upset. Worse, one of the friends-from-across-the-pond had witnessed the whole affair. He had, of course, been obliviated, but who could be certain that the friends wouldn't be able to determine that his mind had been tampered with. At least the aurors had sent him to St. Mungo's and very great care had been taken during the obliviation. He had been out of contact with his superiors longer than might have been planned. A cover story had been implanted. Harry hoped the guy wouldn't be observed as somewhat odd by his fellow friends.

At precisely the same time, the Slytherins had attacked and set afire three Muggle-born Gryffindor first years. Four Slytherin fourth year boys were involved in that attack. Neville and his staff, with help from Margaret and the twins had broken up that attack, but Neville had promptly reported the attack to his mother. Mrs. Longbottom had decided to send two aurors to transport the prisoners. Then, at the time of peak chaos, the school in Wales had been attacked. That is why the auror response had been slower than ideal. It wasn't the aurors fault. Nobody expected the opposition to mount such a deadly coordinated attack. This was a higher level of capability than they had displayed at any time since the death of Voldemort. It was frightening. Harry and Ron hadn't gotten it straight in their own minds, which is one reason they hadn't told us before now. To go from Eva Duerr to this, in such a short time… it both confused and frightened them.

Of course, the Daily Prophet blames our government. They also blame your Quest, claiming that the actions you took to vastly increase the number of magical Muggles – yes, they've stopped bothering to say Muggle-born, have left proper, right-thinking, traditional Witches and Wizards no choice but to fight to preserve their way of life. They say that we may have won two elections, but that doesn't give us the right to turn Wizard society into something which would have been utterly unrecognizable to those living just three years ago. I'd like your help as truth-tellers in the interviewing of the prisoners. Spiked Veritaserum is perfectly fine by Mrs. Longbottom. She says that the rules of war apply to this attack.

"Oh," Ron hastened to add, "you also should know that two of the attackers were opposition members of the Wizengamot. One is dead and the other is in Gringotts, following an overnight stay at St. Mungo's."

"These were stories which you needed to hear in person, not when you were fighting for your lives," Harry excused his lapse. I sort-of bought his defence.

"What else has happened since we were gone?" Hermione asked.

"I expect more trouble from the Slytherins," Neville replied. "I will continue to react promptly and strongly to their attacks upon other students. I expect continued complaints from McGonagall, Slughorn, and the Daily Prophet that I am destroying the character of my school. I will continue to ignore them. I believe that the problems will slacken as my mother jails the worst offenders. There obviously was a conspiracy between those who attacked the Welsh school and those Hogwarts students who set the little Gryffindors afire. I don't believe in that much coincidence. Half of the Welsh students are coming to Hogwarts, starting tomorrow. The castle has already expanded itself. We have found a replacement building to house the remaining students from the Wales school. It is in northern England and it is stone. We have started installing the magical barriers. If you were staying longer, I'd ask you to help. Oh, and I'm to be married in a month. Both of you are invited, of course. In fact, I'm hoping that the two of you will officiate."

"Congratulations, how did that happen so quickly. You seemed to be poking along ever so slowly... well, at least compared to Harry and me."

"Ostara had a late night of academic activities at Hogwarts and spent the night in Gryffindor. Her father convinced himself that I had probably gotten his daughter pregnant. Ostara had expected a lot of convincing to be required to gain her father's approval for us to marry. She was so pessimistic of receiving her father's approval that she was debating going ahead without him. She had talked to her mum about it. She had considered breaking up with me. Then, I find myself being verbally accosted by her father and accused of ruining his daughter's reputation. He demands that we marry within six weeks. I was so happy. We announced our engagement immediately, before he could change his mind."

"That's great. I just don't understand why he doesn't like you."

"I'm not a farmer; I didn't grow up in his church; I attended Hogwarts; I'm Headmaster of Hogwarts; my mother is in the government; I have killed; you name it. The good news is that I think I finally have Ostara. The rest isn't important."

We drank some sherry, we commiserated about our responsibilities and worries. We assured each other that we really were up to the tasks we needed to accomplish. It was time for us all to head to our beds and, I hoped, sexy times for at least Harry and me. Neville had over a month to wait.

As soon as I got into bed, I realised that I felt way too tired and a little too drunk for sexy times. Worse, Harry didn't mind. I gave Harry a good snog, realised that he still wasn't up for anything, and cuddled up against him to try to fall asleep, even as I knew the combination of revved up and overly tired wasn't going to help. Whale song! I reached for it and was drifting into sleep

, just as there was a loud knock on the door. Barb answered the door, then knocked on the bedroom door.

"It's Harry's assistant. Tony spoke to him through the portrait. He wants the four of you in the offices of Special Branch now, so that you'll be there when Roger arrives and so that you aren't observed by agents of the friends, either coming or going. He wants you to sleep in the secure files room. I've been there and can Apparate all of us. Tony apparently expects you all to sleep there."

"Just great!" I had to grudgingly agree that it was an intelligent tactical plan. We certainly didn't want the friends to identify us. I realised that I hadn't missed out on anything by drinking so much sherry.

We grabbed blankets and pillows for sleeping on the floor and then the four of us linked hands and found ourselves standing in a large vault, with row after row of filing cabinets. There were also three Special Branch employees, including Mrs. Toms, there to greet us. "I apologise for the inconvenience, but I agree with the Minister that security demands this. We have already had some of the friends sniffing around our false Harry Potter trail and three agents of the friends were on Roger's return flight. Two of them followed him back to his home and I assume will follow him to determine whether he deviates from his normal workday patterns tomorrow. So... we must limit the number of people who know you will be meeting with Roger tomorrow. That's also why Tony won't be joining us - it would be too difficult to sneak him in. Yes, I know you could do what you do to transport him here, but I fear too many are already in on that trick. Sleep well, Margaret and Mitch will stay with you and wake you an hour before the meeting. There is a loo just down the hallway to the left, as you leave the vault. I hope you are no longer upset that we spied on you. We do that routinely and, in your case, it was largely to protect you and your secrecy. Everyone involved was, or I thought was, thoroughly vetted. Roger's mistress is quite new, and we missed him. Why he thinks calling him a mistress helps his situation, I certainly don't know. I regret that. I regret that the spying caused a breach in our relationship. I hope it can be mended. I have been watching out for you and have done nothing to harm you."

"In that spirit I have a question. When the four of us went to Australia to retrieve my parents, you had photographs taken within seconds of our arrival. That could only happen if you already knew where my parents lived. The Death Eaters were the only ones, whom we have discovered knew where my parents were. They had been to their house. Did you learn the location from the Death Eaters?"

"That's a complicated answer: they told us, but we already knew. We knew as soon as your parents left for Australia and followed them from the airport. We protected them for months and then decided that they were safe. When you booked the plane tickets, we thought something bad might happen, before you reached Australia and sent agents back to the house. And, in answer to the obvious next question, we had to share a photo of all of you with those agents - otherwise they might have attacked you as soon as you arrived. Those agents have orders to destroy all physical and electronic copies of the photos we sent them and to speak to nobody about that. The photo they took of your arrival was as much to prove their timely arrival on the spot as anything. We like to document. They deleted all copies on their end. They are very trusted agents. I know, I know, so was Roger. This has been as bad for us and me, personally, as it has for you. That was my biggest error in over a decade, hung out right in front of the PM. He is not at all pleased. I've never, since my first year in this service, been told to go stand in the hall, while an important meeting was continuing. I fear for my position. I have at least as much incentive as you to make certain that this situation with Roger and with your people ends well. The PM is very angry. Now, Good night, you have a challenging morning ahead of you."

We used the loo, we cleaned up as best we could, dressed, and were just finishing breakfast, when Mrs. Toms arrived. Roger showed up five minutes later, with several more of Mrs. Toms' agents drifting in over the next several minutes. When the last arrival was seated, Mrs. Toms asked Roger to give us a detailed account of all that happened since he boarded the plane to cross the pond.

Roger knew the drill. He gave us a quick overview in just fifteen minutes, then spent almost two hours describing the events in fine detail. There were no questions asked, but when Roger finished Mrs. Toms told Roger "You did very well Roger. A fifteen-minute break and then we resume with Hermione's magic juice." Hermione gave him a dose and a half. All but the two agents guarding the vault made a quick trip to the loo. Roger and his escort were the last to return, obviously by plan, as Mrs. Toms' took the opportunity to ask, "was he truthful". We assured her that he was.

With questioning, and a short lunch break, it was four hours until Roger was excused. He and his minder ate separately, with his normal lunchmates. We learned from Roger that we had attracted the attention of some very senior security staff among the friends. Roger had even met Darth Cheney, who had both thanked him for his service with a big wad of cash and threatened him. The most important point was that the friends had accepted the phoney photos of us, which Roger gave them. Roger had been ordered to provide more files. The auror who would be one of the teachers at the phoney Wizard school would be one of the photos. He would be substitute Neville. Mrs. Toms told us that she had 'absolutely forbade Mr. Weasley from participating in the subterfuge. He was brave but feeling as guilty as he obviously did made him a risk to blow the charade. Roger's spy craft was good enough that he had detected his three shadows but was certain they didn't realise that. He thought they believed his tale. He had passed their lie detector test. He had done so twice. The more unbelievable substitute facts we had confounded him with caused the friends to think he might be overly credulous and that the things he had obviously observed might not be as significant as Roger obviously believed. There was some very bad news. The friends had identified, but not yet met with, Hemerocallis, who apparently was on holiday in Britain. Roger's shadows were tasked with tracking down Hemerocallis, just as soon as they were convinced that Roger wasn't a double agent running straight back to his Special Branch handlers.

"That's all Roger," Mrs. Toms finally declared. "You're lucky. We already know of your transgressions, so our friends can't blackmail you. You're helping us, so if you do well as a double agent, you can avoid jail and even continue to work here - with less access to important secrets. The friends aren't a threat to kill you; you've happily escaped the attention of the big bad bear. You can expect to be detoured to the American Embassy sometime in the next week for a further debriefing and polygraph. You need to know certain things, but the things you don't know are about to be obliviated. You can keep your boyfriend, although I don't understand why you refer to him as your mistress. You will drink some liars' milk before you leave and will be confunded to totally believe everything in these new files. It will be liar's milk every day, when you leave work, with a top up if you leave the building for lunch. Here is your next official assignment. It is important, but it's NATO and unobjectionable and quite uninteresting to the friends. You will be working with two other agents. That is both for your safety and so that we know where to find you. Do what you need to do, Hermione."

Roger was dismissed, with knowledge of this meeting obliviated and a full day's work, including a routine, post-travel debriefing substituted.

Harry spoke determinedly as soon as Roger was out of earshot "If the friends can trace Hemerocallis back to Madam Bones, we are in deep trouble. We must find Hemerocallis first. We must work together. The only plan I can think of is to kidnap Roger's shadows and use the Juice to force them to reveal the real identity of Hemerocallis."

"Their contact was by internet," Hermione explained to Harry. "All trace of that must be erased. We must question Madam Bones and learn from where and how she transmitted her messages. She was vague on how she initially got together with Hemerocallis, but it sounds like she left a record on the FanFiction site. That is our biggest risk. Special Branch needs to act on that."

"Talk to your woman, get me the information before dinner, and my people will act before you are snuggled into your beds."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 – Interviewing The Prisoners**

The four of us had dinner in London with Mrs. Toms, who thought it time for a relaxed talk. She treated us at Shacklebolt's favorite restaurant. The staff knew her. We had excellent service and a pair of most excellent wines to go with Harry and my Chateaubriand for Two. Mrs. Toms had carefully controlled the discussion.

"We should be friends. I think the four of you are young enough to be both more flexible and more realistic than Ginny's father. All five of you, including former Minister Weasley are certainly more honest than even-more-former-Minister Shacklebolt, although I must tell you that while Kingsley is certainly dishonest, he is also deeply honourable. You can depend upon him to have your backs and to be willing to sacrifice his life for your community. I know the four of you are equally honourable and courageous. My job is to keep Britain safe. I stomp on toes and bend laws, in a way which the Prime Minister and regular police cannot. Protecting one's people can involve some dirty deeds. All of you have been forced to kill. So, have I. I doubt you liked it any more than I did. It had to be done and we did it. We must look ahead and prevent trouble. That is the only way to reduce or avoid killing. There are a few things you need to focus upon.

"You can't stay hidden forever. There have been way too many incidents, from Voldemort forward. We can hold the friends at bay only for so long. They aren't stupid, they have more agents than they know what to do with, and they rarely give up on a scent. They have your scent. I'm surprised the British media haven't broken the story of your community. I work as hard as I can at this in order to give you time to prepare for and execute a plan for your people to go public. My message is it's a question of when, not if, and the sooner the better. A planned disclosure has so many advantages for both of our governments and communities. Your International Secrecy Statute is a problem. You need to address it promptly. I wish to speak to the International Confederation of Wizards. I know they are looking into your possible violation of the Secrecy Statute. It is important that I be allowed to convince them just how much they have their heads in the sand and are just wishing and hoping the current problems will disappear. That can't work. I don't know how much time I can give you, but it isn't a lot. We are lucky that the bear hasn't heard of you, yet. It is inevitable that they will. All the spy services spy on each other. If we know, they will know soon enough. They will not be happy to learn that they have secret magical people in their lands and that those people are governed by other magical people in Germany and the Nordic countries. They won't like that at all."

Mrs. Toms stopped talking while we ate our meals. Her only comments referred to the food. After dessert and coffee were delivered to our table, the waiter was no more than ten feet away, when she asked, "are you going to arrange for me to speak to the Confederation?"

"Wouldn't that rather much be an admission that we have violated the ISS? Okay, I suppose we're past that point. I'll see what I can do. Really, I promise to do it. What are you going to ask them to do?"

"I want them to think, I want them to think very seriously. They cannot go on ignoring how much our world has changed and how difficult it has become to hide in it. I don't know what to do about the Giants, and Elves and Goblins and Centaurs, but the magical humans are going to have to come out of hiding. I can't possibly tell them how much time they have, but it isn't a lot. Your people will be very lucky to stay hidden another year. Our government has known about you for quite some time, and you are hardly closer to integrating into British society than you were when we first encountered you."

"I understand. The Death Eater wars were kind of hard to miss."

"Longer ago than that. I've read the fanfic. It's still being added to, by the way. I checked some details against our files. Dumbledore recruited us to search for Jaden and Dilys. He didn't say he worked at a Wizarding school, but his unusualness was remarked upon. Throughout the years, there have been citizens and police, even soldiers, who saw things they shouldn't have seem and escaped without having their minds wiped. There are several dozen such files. They are remarkably similar. The first go back to the end of the nineteenth century. We have been given ample reason to spy upon you. We don't want your full story breaking into full public view with a giant thud any more than you do. One thing is clear from the files: there are more and more entries each year. You are becoming less and less successful at hiding. We knew about and accepted the Lords Montaigne. Let's say we had a sort of agreement with the Malfoys. Really, we've bent over backwards to tolerate you. You must do better, and you must prepare for the future.

"You may have to set some of your boyish purity aside to deal with the problems of the present. You need to be tougher in dealing with those of your opponents who are willing to engage in serious violence or deliberate attempts to threaten your secrecy. What the fanfic calls your catch-and-release policy toward serious political criminals hasn't and can't work. Ignore your Deputy Minister and keep them in the Gringotts' vaults forever, or at least until you can complete the secure prison you're working on. There will be complaints from opposition Gamots that you have imprisoned a fellow Gamot. Your answer is to expel her from the Wizengamot and keep her locked up. She is a dangerous terrorist. This is too delicate a time to risk what she might do next. Keep an eye on your enemies. Your wife might solicit another raven or two from Odin. I give you this tip from my own agents: Barnabas Cuffe is more than a Slytherin-for-life businessman. He may well be the leader behind the terrorists. This last stunt your opposition pulled was most dangerous. It was exactly what a dozen agents of the friends were looking for. Dumb luck they missed it. If the friend who saw it had not been promptly captured, well... I'll keep you updated on events with Roger. I assume that you can find your own way home. Good night. Tony doesn't know I'm here. Please don't mention this meeting. I don't think we've been watched. Don't wait to speak to Madam Bones."

We made a very quick stop at Madam Bones' townhouse. She had used a laptop to write PMs, she took pains to explain that these were personal messages, to a reader who had left a comment on her story. She, not Hemerocallis, had written the initial chapters of the story. A back and forth PM had started the ball rolling. She had included enough notes to write the first two books as an attachment to her final PM. After that, she had contacted Hemerocallis by e-mail. She gave us the address. She gave us her hidden laptop. All messages had been sent from an internet café in London. She had chosen one far from the townhouse. She gave us the name. She told us yet again how truly sorry she was. We made a quick stop at the Ministry, having summoned Shacklebolt with a Stone message, which woke him. He said he knew how to contact Mrs. Toms and that he would get Wood to start work on the computer immediately.

Even with those quick side trips, I was home in plenty of time for sexy times with Harry. I slept very well. No whale song was required.

We were up early and off to the Ministry with Ron, Hermione, and McGonagall. Neville's mum was already seated and drinking tea when we arrived. We ate in Harry's conference room and steeled ourselves to interrogate the prisoners. Gamot Priscilla Endron was to be first up. She entered in a cloud of haughtiness, which was remarkable for such a minor aristocrat of highly dubious pureblood status. She was just about the lowest ranking of the opposition Gamots. Likely her relative youthfulness, Harry said she was thirty-six years old, explained her actions as a fighter.

"You have no right to hold me in that dungeon. I'm a Gamot. I have rights. I demand to speak to my minority leader and my solicitor. You will regret this."

"You are charged with treason and murder of school children. I can hold you without contact for a week and intend to do so. Do not expect Madam Bones' gently, gently approach to Death Eaters from me. You and Gamot Hinshaw were playing a very dangerous game. He's dead, by the way, so you might consider yourself at least somewhat fortunate. You are going to tell us what you know in front of these truth-tellers."

Three court truth-tellers had joined us, so there were five of us.

"I'm not a Death Eater. You'll never tire of chasing supposed Death Eaters, but I believe you've killed them all. I am simply an opponent fighting to protect the traditional way of life, which you are determined to destroy. If you had any proof that I actively supported Voldemort, you'd have arrested me long before this. Obviously, you don't have proof, since I was never a Death Eater. Do you care to see my arms?"

She started to roll up both sleeves, but the blouse proved too tight. She removed it and softly tossed it toward Harry's head. "Like what you see boys?"

"I see that you don't bear the mark. That's a point in your favour, but given your actions, a small one," Ron replied, as he tossed her blouse back to her. "Seen better, by the way."

"You have no proof that I either intended to bring down your government or that I killed anyone."

"I don't need to prove either of those things. You violently attacked a government facility. You were a member of a group of attackers who killed school children. You were part of a group who used Giants and a Dementor to attack and kill school children."

"Only one of those killed was young enough to be considered a child, and I certainly did not kill her, nor did I order, encourage, or approve of her death. I was there to demonstrate against your government's policy of admitting adult Muggles to our community. I was not there to kill or even to fight."

"There are witnesses that you fired curses."

"Self defence. We were cursed. I cursed back. Apparently, nobody heard me use an Unforgivable Curse, or you would have led with that. That's because I didn't use one. A person who is being attacked is at liberty to use and 'Expelliarmus' or 'Petrificus Totalis'."

"Or even a meteorological spell," Mrs. Longbottom suggested.

"Who organised and planned this attack?"

"I don't care to respond, other than to say that it wasn't me."

"Who coordinated the attack you participated in and the attack upon Hogwarts' first years, and the commotion in Sheffield designed to attract the attention of non-magical Britons and consume auror time to confound on-lookers?"

"That is a coincidence. It might have been organised. I know nothing about any of that. I was at the school in Wales to demonstrate against the presence of that school, because Gamot Hinshaw asked me to join his protest and allow the Daily Prophet to take our picture. The community needs to know that there are still some brave souls who are willing to stand up against your destruction of our community."

"You and Gamot Hinshaw both wore Death Eater masks and hoods."

"That has already become recognised as standard garb for those who protest your government. We would have removed our masks to be photographed."

"After all of the students and faculty were dead."

"I told you, there was no intention of killing anybody. We were cursed. We cursed back. Unfortunately, deaths resulted."

"Without your using an Avada Kedavra?"

"I did not use that curse. Neither did my colleague. I heard one or two, but don't know who used them. I believe the Giants and the Dementor became overly excited and lost their self-control when the faculty started to curse us. They are simple minded and can't be held accountable for that. Besides, they're all dead."

"One of the Giants and the Dementor live. We'll be questioning the Giant this afternoon. We've sent for the leader of the Giant tribe. I think the captured Giant will tell us who hired him. I find it strange that you felt it appropriate to invite two Giants, a Dementor, and Demons to your peaceful protest of the presence of non-purebloods in our community. I'm sure the Giant will explain his strange appearance at a peaceful protest. Perhaps he also wanted the Daily Prophet to take a photo of him. Do you care to amend your testimony, before that happens? No? Then, we'll repeat the questions, using Veritaserum Don't bother objecting, I have authority to do so. Here are two witness statements swearing that the first curse of the day actually came from you and that it killed a professor."

I was surprised that McGonagall had yet to object. Normally this treatment of anyone, especially a Witch, would have her hurling accusations at us. Perhaps Harry had spoken to her in advance, or perhaps the destruction of the school was too vile an action for her to care what happened to the perpetrator.

The Gamot now looked more worried. We had to force the Veritaserum down her throat. While we waited, Mrs. Longbottom polled all of us truth-tellers and made note of each time that the Gamot had lied or been evasive. She had been evasive about not using an Unforgivable Curse, about not organizing the attack and about coordination of the attacks, she had lied about only cursing in self defence and only going to the school for a peaceful protest. She had been truthful about not using the AK curse. I should point out that Hermione's spiked Veritaserum was used, rather than the plain variety. I'm certain McGonagall was aware of this. It looks different enough that any Witch half as skilled as McGonagall couldn't possibly be fooled.

Gamot Endron mainly confirmed that she had lied but did reveal that the attacks had been planned by Barnabas Cuffe. She couldn't say why. She didn't know his formal position in the opposition. She didn't know whether he had been some sort of honorary Death Eater. She admitted that she was masquerading as pure blood, but said she was not the only Witch to do so and that it hardly mattered. She wasn't a Death Eater and only Death Eaters cared about such things. What counted was a reverence and willingness to fight for the traditional lifestyle of the Wizarding world's aristocracy. "We are the only true carriers and transmitters of the Wizarding culture. Our world works best when we rule." Of course, she was a graduate of Slytherin.

Hagrid, Grawp, and the leader of the Giants sat in on our meeting with the prisoner Giant. I wasn't sure if I or the others had the ability to truth-tell a Giant. His answers seemed honest, both because none of us detected a lie and because he said nothing that I would have any reason, just based upon my own knowledge, to suspect was untrue. He said that he and his partner had each been given a bar of gold and a handful of gems as payment for participation in a single attack. Shown a group of photos, he pointed at Gamot Hinshaw's portrait. There had been a meeting prior to the attack. Gamot Endron spoke of the necessity to kill everyone present and absolutely destroy the building, reducing it to burnt rubble. He identified Barnabas Cuffe as the man with the camera, who took photos prior to the group's traveling to the school, photos taken with faces visible.

"We need to get those photos," Ron nudged Harry.

"I will do my best," Mrs. Longbottom promised.

We spoke to the other 'Death Eater' prisoners - Gamot Endron at least believed that she spoke the truth when she stated that neither they nor herself were ever Death Eaters. Ron ordered each of these prisoners to roll up their sleeves. No smudges or marks were visible. I knew that Draco's mark remained visible, so this was further proof that Gamot Endron spoke truth on this point. The most interesting testimony came from the only prisoner captured at what Hermione called the 'street demonstration'. It was clear that many of the actors were non-magical Britons paid by Barnabas Cuffe. A Daily Prophet photographer had been present when the prisoner had arrived. Our prisoner had been recruited by Gamot Hinshaw. He had been paid. He had been given a precise time to begin the demonstration. He had been told that buildings must be damaged in a way which would be "difficult to repair or explain." He had no knowledge that there was to be an attack on the new school in Wales.

I also sat in as one of the truth-tellers on the interrogation of the students who had attacked the Gryffindor first years. They were defiant. They refused to answer. They were threatened with prosecution for treason. They proclaimed their innocence. The spiked Veritaserum was administered. McGonagall showed signs of inner turmoil, but raised no verbal objection, letting her posture speak for itself. The Slytherins changed the tale they had told Neville. They had not launched an impulsive attack on "snivelly little Mudbloods who had the temerity to occupy the halls of my school". The father of one of the students had sent an owl demanding a serious and very prominent attack upon, preferably the twins, but as a fallback plan, against any Mudblood students, the younger the better. An exact time for the attack was given. The importance of this timing was emphasised. Parental authority and threats of dire consequences, in the case of disobedience, were invoked. The student receiving the owl was Hieronymus Hinshaw, the son of our dead Gamot Hinshaw's brother Eustace, also a member of the Wizengamot.

It was late, but I was very hungry. I had access to an infinite supply of tea, coffee, and baked goods during the interrogations, but nobody thought to provide any real food. I can't survive like that. Harry tasked an auror to grab Indian pick-up. When he returned, he and Barb transported us to Hermione's house. Mrs. Longbottom had gone on ahead to Hogwarts with Shacklebolt and four of his aurors to get her son's permission to search Slytherin House. She had a signed statement from young Hinshaw and had gotten a search permission from the member of the Wizengamot, who served as the judicial master. I left that matter in the capable hands of the Longbottom's. I needed food.

The early Quest stops had featured so much curry that I had become satiated with those spice blends. There had been none of that taste on Vanaheimer or Asgard, and I hadn't missed it in the least. Now that I had Tandoori chicken and vegetable curries in front of me, I suddenly realised how much I had missed these tastes. I thoroughly enjoyed my food. The naan bread was something I hadn't had warm and fresh since I began Questing. I welcomed back my old friend. We had finished eating when the Longbottom's appeared at the door.

"Slytherins can be very foolish and stupid," Neville declared. "Hieronymus saved the note from his father! Why! Maybe he had planned to blame his father if he came to trial. Perhaps he would claim a crippling fear of an extremely abusive father. In any case, Mrs. Longbottom had the note and she was off to arrest the second Gamot Hinshaw. I was sure she would get permission to search his house. Was he as stupid and careless as his son? We could hope.

"Young Hinshaw is going to be very unpopular with his Slytherin chums. We found several gallons each of Scotch, gin, and vodka. I let them keep their wine. They also had marijuana. As far as I know that's a first for Hogwarts. Worst of all, they had a bomb. Now it's my bomb and it's also ample reason for future searches of Slytherin and questioning of all, with truth-tellers."

"Nice of you to just drop that in at the end. I had hoped to meet with Margaret, the twins, and Steven, Angela, and Fran, before returning to Asgard in late morning."

"I couldn't resist seeing how much a half sleeping Harry's jaw would drop when I said that. I'll arrange with Fran for all of us to have breakfast in my apartment."

A Slytherin bomb at Hogwarts!


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 – An Alarm In the Night**

I had a chance for quick sexy times with Harry and even for an hour of sleep, before Shacklebolt was pounding on our door. We hastily dressed, while Barb served him tea.

"Three Slytherin fifth-years slipped out of the school an hour ago and vanished. They wouldn't have been missed nearly this quickly, but for some reason they felt obliged to burn down Hagrid's shack. Don't worry, Hagrid is fine. My aurors have started their search from Hogsmeade. That also was too easy. They broke into the Three Broomsticks and stole a sack of bar food and quite a lot of Scotch. I smell a trap. I've ordered the aurors to work in teams of two or three. I don't want to risk a lone auror being ambushed. Just to be safe, I've sent aurors to Cissy's castle. All was well when they arrived, but they are protecting her castle from the inside. Just two Wizard servants were at the castle. They are safe and saw nothing. I feared that the castle route to the Sacred Cavern might be an inviting target."

"I'm terribly sorry," Harry told him. "It was a long day and we just wanted to go to bed, but I know we should have stayed to question the Slytherins. I just couldn't face that at the time. Now that chance is gone."

"Don't worry about that. You might or might not have identified the culprits who owned the bomb. They could have refused to say a word. Now they've volunteered their own guilt. We'll catch them. Spoilt Slytherins aren't going to hide out in caves, like Sirius did. They aren't at all into roughing it. They are probably trying to go home. We're certainly pursuing that angle."

A thought popped into my head: "Perhaps a flash of intuition or just a dumb thought, but I think you should have aurors watching the Prophet building and Mr. Cuffe's house. If he organised the attacks, they may expect him to protect them. I'll try to find Neville. You should know whether the boys are able to Apparate. Would they bother stopping to steal food if they were able to Apparate to some place safe? First, I want to visit and make certain Hagrid is okay."

"That will stretch me thin, but I'll do it."

Harry said he would go with Kingsley, but that I should try to get some rest. How did he think that would be possible? I told Barb I was going to Hogwarts to check on Hagrid and see his hut for myself. I gave Harry a very quick snog, and he was gone. Barb insisted that she must come with me. I was reluctantly agreeing, when there was another knock on my door, which Barb opened to admit Hermione. Harry had taken Ron with him. We Apparated right onto the Hogwarts' grounds, just a hundred feet from Hagrid's hut. The stench of burnt hut immediately assaulted my nostrils and I could see piles of glowing embers as we walked forward. I heard Hagrid and Neville speaking in concerned tones as they knelt in front of... something.

"Fang!" I told Hermione, certain I was right, even though I could see next to nothing."

As we got closer, I could tell that Neville was attempting a healing spell, while Hagrid repeated a monotone "Don't die, Fang."

Hermione and I rushed around Hagrid and Neville to tend to Fang from the other side. As we knelt beside Fang, the smell of burnt fur and, frankly, flesh was overpowering to the point I had to forcibly suppress a gag and barf. As I recovered, I joined Hermione in pouring magical energy into Fang. I reached for the Stone to get more power and to request it search for more suitable healing spells. PAIN! A crushing wave of pure pain caught me totally by surprise and I bent over so far, my nose was crushed against the grass.

"Worse than the Cruciatus," Hermione whispered in a way that told me she had blocked the pain. I follower her mind to the spot in the Stone memory where she found that trick and used it to clear my own mind of the oppressive pain. Fang was softly whimpering, and I just knew that we were somehow feeling his pain. We both used that spell to block Fang's pain. The whimpering stopped. A tongue licked my hand in thanks.

Hagrid had stopped his mournful chant and turned away from Neville as he sensed what was happening. "The pain is too much for Fang. We must do something."

"We already have," Hermione assured him. "All of his pain is blocked. We're now working on healing him."

"Tried to save him. The big dummy ran back into the hut. I almost couldn't reach him; it was so hot. Why would somebody want to kill Fang? He never hurt nothing."

"I'm very sorry," Hermione consoled him, then flashed the truth at him with "it was you they wanted to kill. You are our friend. That was enough for those evil boys to want to kill you."

"I'm sorry I haven't been able to prevent the return of evil to Hogwarts," Neville apologised to all of us. "I thought I was doing a lot better than I actually was. This lot of Slytherins seemed better than last year's. They were strongly pushed to do this. I know it. I feel incompetent. I should have considered that the adults couldn't bear to have a peaceful Hogwarts. A bomb, now this. I will not tolerate it."

"Slytherins are evil," Hagrid told us.

I couldn't disagree.

I was searching the Stone for the best spells or potions to treat burns. I was also looking for any special skills to treat an animal with serious burns. The Stone directed me to an old nature religion priestess named Esme. She had supported herself as a shepherdess and tended sheep, with the help of her two dogs. She had successfully treated one of her dogs for severe burns, when an angry Wizard had thrown him onto her campfire. She had dealt with the Wizard, then she had used the same pain deadening spell we had just used. She knew of a plant lotion for burns. The ingredients danced across my mind. I told Hermione that I was off to the potion's room, letting her see the vision of the lotion in my mind. She pointed me at an old Light Guardian priestess potion to treat human burns, suggesting it would probably also work on Fang. I messaged Margaret to meet me in the potions room and I was off.

I Apparated inside the door of Snape's old storeroom. As soon as I ordered light from my wand, it was clear that Neville had the room far better stocked with plants than Snape or even Professor Sprout had ever achieved. That reminded me to also summon Professor Sprout.

I carried a satchel of ingredients to the potions room. Margaret, the twins, and Professor Sprout were already there. I explained the problem and what was needed to treat Fang. Professor Sprout allowed herself a quick "poor Hagrid, poor Fang," then sprang into action. She and the twins would make the potion. Margaret and I would prepare the lotion. I macerated Eucalyptus leaves with my mortar and pestle, while Margaret crushed Aloe leaves. We each dumped our product into a small copper pail, then moved on to Peppermint leaves for me and flowers from the Vanilla orchid for Margaret. How could a medieval priestess possibly get such ingredients? There must have been a lore of far-off places among the priestesses and she must have done several basically blind, long-distance Apparates. That would have been dangerous beyond imagining. I shuddered to think of the risk this old priestess had taken. Despite that, I knew she had lived to be nearly a hundred and had died only when a ram had caught her unawares and butted her off a mountainside. I wasn't half as tough as these old witches. Stir in a scoop of ambergris and we were done. Margaret and I apparated back to Fang's side. With gentle 'Leviosum' and a modified form of Witch painting, we managed to cover all of Fang with the lotion. Hermione fetched soft linen sheeting, upon which we laid, and then wrapped, Fang. When we finished this delicate operation, I noticed that Madam Sprout and the twins were standing with us. The easiest approach - easiest for Fang, that is, was to squirt the potion down his throat in very small squirts, lest he choked. Barb, Neville, Professor Sprout, and I grabbed a piece of the linen and Apparated Fang to the infirmary. We carefully placed him upon a cot. Hermione apparated Hagrid and the twins.

"I'm off to do some midnight shopping in a British hospital. We need to get equipment for a glucose drip, probably electrolytes as well. I'll pick up Stewart on the way. He can give a satisfactory explanation. I'll Polyjuice. I'm becoming far more wary of the wrong people being able to identify this face.

As Hagrid stepped close to Fang and presented his big hand, Fang lifted his head slightly and gave a big lick. I could tell that Fang was feeling much better and less frightened. Then I realised: I could tune into Fang's thoughts. I could sense his increasing calm, his love for Hagrid, his doggy gratitude for our efforts to repair him. I tried to beam some warm, happy thoughts back at Fang. I pulled myself away from this rather shocking contact with the realisation that I'd be gone in twelve hours and there was information about Fang's care which I must convey to the others.

First, I made sure that Dr. Sprout had good written instructions for making more lotion and potion. Then I wrote down the instructions for a second lotion and two more potions to be used after Fang's healing had caught hold. Most important: I needed to teach them how to perform the dual charm and spell needed to block Fang's pain. What Hermione and I had done would wear off shortly after we left. I promised to renew the treatment as the last thing we did. I improved the twins' link to the Stone as I was doing this. They had so much less formal skill that I hadn't been able to do much more than teach them how to yell "Help!" through the Stone, before I left on Quest. Now they were able to learn how to conduct a full conversation in both directions and to ask the Stone questions. I made certain that the Stone was fully aware of what sort of questions it should and should not answer.

Hermione returned with Stewart and hooked up an intravenous drip for Fang. A tube, which Hermione said was a catheter, had to be inserted in a most sensitive spot. Happily, our spell meant that Fang didn't feel a thing. As Hagrid looked a little shocked by this procedure, Hermione explained that it was necessary to prevent Fang from soiling himself. Lack of cleanliness was the greatest danger to Fang's recovery.

I turned to see Madam Pomphrey working on Hagrid with the same lotion we had used on Fang. I felt mortified. Hagrid was seriously injured, and I had failed to notice anything beyond singed hair. I must have looked very crestfallen, because Hagrid reached out to put a comforting hand upon my head, telling me "Don't feel bad. You fixed Fang, what I wanted you to do. I'm tougher and braver than Fang."

Brave or not, lack of whimpering notwithstanding, Hermione and I used the anti-pain charm and spell on Hagrid.

"Time to go!" Neville urged us. "If we go now, we can almost be not late for breakfast with the Lester's."

The Lester's were standing in a third-floor corridor next to a glass display case when the three of us arrived. Of course, they were unable to gain entry to the stairway to Neville's apartment, even though Angela was leaning against us. It was an exposed position, even within Hogwarts, but a Ministry auror was with them. I didn't know her name. She introduced herself as Bethany, absolute evidence that she was Muggle-born. Neville guided us up to his apartment and motioned us to a semi-circle of chairs. More furniture, more modern furniture, no Witch sherry on offer, but reminiscent of my visits to McGonagall's apartment.

As we sat, breakfast arrived. We had a profusion of choices: coffee, tea, pumpkin and orange juices, milk, broiled tomatoes, bacon, eggs scrambled or poached, croissants, scones, poached pears, three different jams, butter, sausages, and chocolate chip muffins. "Ginny likes to eat," Neville offered as explanation. "She's about to travel and wanted to check in on you before she left. Since she is responsible for your introduction to our world, that seemed appropriate. Harry and Ron would be here, but they're off on auror business."

"Please just tell me, I know something terrible has happened. Does it involve us." Fran pleaded.

"Not directly," I responded, "but a lot of bad stuff happened in the past two days. We've just come from doing our best to heal Hagrid's dog, Fang. He was badly burned when three Slytherins burned down Hagrid's hut on their way out of Hogwarts. We think they were the ones who brought the bomb into Slytherin House. Harry and Ron are searching for them. The over-flow school in Wales was attacked. The attackers were repulsed, but a dozen students were killed. On the bright side, things are going well with Roger and the phoney trail we've laid to fool the agents of the United States."

"Worse than I feared. Are you sure my children are safe at Hogwarts?"

"As safe as we can possibly make them," Neville promised in a voice which reeked of confidence. "The worst of the Slytherins are gone. My faculty are vigilant. We have Elves secretly on duty. Bethany is here to keep you all safe and my mother has two other aurors, who will remain at Hogwarts for the time being. Meanwhile, the Ministry is pursuing those responsible for the attacks. A number of villains are already in jail."

"I guess that is... somewhat comforting. This is all new to us."

"We fully understand that," Hermione assured her. Ginny and I faced threats at Hogwarts, but as you can see, we survived and are fine. Hogwarts is far safer now. We have a friendly Ministry and Neville isn't ignoring problems. How are you and the children progressing with your magical studies?"

"Far better than I could have hoped. I've been allowed to start as a second year, so there's no conflict with being in the same classes as Angela. I'm getting by - far from best in class, but only the second or third worst performer. Angela has proven to be a natural. We've snuck in training for Steven. I think he's doing well. I have a request. I'd like my husband to be able to visit us for the weekend. I'm sure he misses us greatly. I certainly miss him. He could hide out in my apartment."

"Harry's department. I'm hoping he'll be here soon, so that I can say goodbye to him. I'm traveling off-world to Asgard."

We finished our breakfast, mainly with small-talk conversation. We were all lingering after finishing eating in the hope that Harry and Ron would appear. They arrived forty minutes after we finished eating.

"We caught the Slytherins. Ginny was right, they went to Barnabas Cuffe's house. They walked to the nearest town south of Hogsmeade. It's a regular British small town. They were sitting in the car park area of a small mall, when a Witch I didn't recognise approached them. They grabbed her arms and she Apparated them away from us. Fifteen minutes later an auror arrives to tell us that they are inside Barnabas Cuffe's house. We set up anti-Apparition barriers and stormed the house, arresting everyone inside. We had judicial warrants to do that and to search any place the students went. We found some very interesting documents. Director Shacklebolt and Wood are examining them. Barnabas, the Witch, Gamot Finch, and the three students are in the lock-up and will be questioned today. I'm hoping the two of you can stay for that."

I contacted Odin. He seemed a little annoyed, but his words were agreement in good grace. He agreed to let me borrow Cissy, since Harry didn't want to use the court truth-tellers for this.

Harry listened to Fran's request and agreed that He or Ron would Apparate her husband to Hogwarts.

"Please do it together guys", Neville cautioned. "I don't want my friends in a position to be picked off as singles. The Lester house is a place we can be counted on to visit. We probably don't want Mister Lester to return there after the weekend, unless you have a couple of aurors to spare."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 – An Apology To My Questers**

I contacted Odin and received permission to stay a little longer. He wanted stability in Britain and was shocked at the problems I described, although pleased by the progress we had made in putting an end to many of our troubles. His approval was hardly necessary. Reinforced by Cissy and Cho, Hermione and I travelled to the Ministry with Harry as his trusted truth-tellers. None of the prisoners said a word. Spiked Veritaserum could not loosen their tongues or weaken their resolve.

I had just one more thing to do before I left. I told Harry that I wanted to visit Prudence and the other wounded from the attack upon the Wales school. Harry told me that he would come with me, although he had already made an official visit as Minister. I was pleased and relieved that all the injured were doing very well and would leave St. Mungo's tomorrow. Some could leave already but were staying as a demonstration of solidarity. They planned to leave as one and go immediately for interviews and photos with The Quibbler. Prudence proudly declared "We've read The Prophet and are determined that the truth be told. We are the ones who were there. We were injured protecting our students."

I thanked her for that service to our community but also couldn't help blurting "I'm a little surprised, because I never saw you as a fighter."

"You did not see me at my best on Vanaheimer. I was so shocked that I froze during the battle at the White Column chamber. I couldn't believe what Miomor was obviously doing. I know that you have forgiven me, since you are here talking to me. I expected never to see you again."

"I know. I expected the same. You were so courageous that I had to confirm with my own eyes that you were well. Also, everything that you told me about my dad's problems turned out to be true. I know that you did your best to help him deal with the stresses of being Minister and that he was more responsible than you for the other problems."

The wounded wished to have a remembrance ceremony for the dead. I led a Light Guardian religious ceremony. The wounded took turns describing the dead. They were all good people who had either volunteered to teach the students or students who had arrived in our world in a daze, shocked by their newly discovered wild magic and determined to fit into our society. They recognized that they were separate from the Hogwarts students for a reason. They felt like something of a special problem or embarrassment to their new community but were determined to learn and prove themselves. We would all have been proud of them. They realized that the numbers of the newcomers swamped the capacity of Hogwarts but were glad the Wales school would not be reopened and prayed that the government did not create another segregated school. I could tell that Harry felt very awkward and shamed, but he promised that Hogwarts was being expanded and that he would do his best to make the single overflow school not be segregated. He said that the advanced ages of some of the newcomers was a problem which would require thought. He would arrange for them to meet with Neville, McGonagall, Fran Lester, and Hermione's mother.

Hermione and I snogged our husbands, then Apparated to the pyramid for our return to Asgard. I suggested that Cho and Cissy might want to stay in our world for a week to visit friends and family. Cissy declined, but Cho happily accepted. The British soldiers, Commander St. John and Colonel Cholmondeley, along with our two Hogwarts students, and a very jittery Professor Sturluson were waiting for us inside the pyramid. The professor's body language said 'well, it's about time. I've been waiting forever.' He headed straight for Hermione. They chatted, while I organised the team to walk into Asgard. We walked to the World-between-worlds and then onto my Asgard land. We had just finished greeting the Unicorn herd, when Yggdrasil summoned us to the library. Odin and Frijjo were seated in the library, waiting for us.

"You're back a little sooner than you led me to believe. What happened."

"The prisoners weren't talking, so truth-tellers weren't needed. It's now Mrs. Longbottom's problem to prosecute the prisoners and Shacklebolt's job to catch any of their allies still participating in the fight. We've taken a deliberate decision to step back from fighting. I believe that's what the Light Guardian wants us to do."

"Bah!" Frijjo waved a dismissive hand at us. "Will you at least participate in the battle of seid-space."

"Yes, that is our plan, but we need further training to do that."

"And that you shall have, starting tomorrow morning," Odin promised. "It is a good thing you are well rested. The learning and the work promise to be hard."

"Actually, we're knackered. We've slept almost not at all the past two days. Our return home was not at all restful."

"I truly do wish that I could make allowance for that, but the schedule does not permit. Let's hope nothing disturbs your sleep tonight. Your team has a head-start on you, in terms of training. I'm sure you'll catch up in no time."

"Almost immediately, I've decided it's only fair to send most of the team home for a few days. They need a rest as much as we did, and they won't have the demands on their rest time that we did."

Odin had planned a large dinner for us and our team. Percy and Callista were included. Because we had arrived sooner than expected, we had three hours before the feast. I said we'd stop by our camp to check in with the team. Odin told us that half the team was at Valaskjalf, already. Why didn't we take half an hour to chat at the camp, then all who would be attending the feast could come with us to the palace. Odin whispered to me that he knew some of the team would remain in the camp to guard our secrets, even though Frijjo would be with us at the palace. It sounded very silly when he said it like that.

I told those at our camp that any wanting to take a trip home should feel free to be gone for three days. I apologised that Hermione and I had been away as long as we had, explaining that this wasn't the plan and recounting all that had happened to delay our return. I thanked them for staying to protect our secrets from Frijjo, telling them about the comments from Frijjo, which had led me to react as I did. Silly as my concern was, I was anxious to discover who was guarding our weapons and camp. I found Captain Davies and Aagog in charge. My first question was about the integrity of our camp's security. I told them I was pleased that the weaponry was covered by cloth sheeting. "Security has been good," Captain Davies assured me.

"Frijjo come and stare at sheets. She want to look underneath. I tell her if she do that, I bite."

"I might have needed to raise my weapon, but she left camp quickly enough," Captain Davies added. "Also, your Blacky has over-flown the camp quite frequently, especially at night. I've had guards deployed in shifts. I guarantee that Frijjo had no opportunity to steal our secrets or our supplies. She was most annoyed when she left."

I asked if their training had been effective. "I learn lots," Aagog assured me. "I teach you. I learn things that Odin and Frijjo not teach. My mother also teach me.

"Excellent," was Captain Davies' crisp reply. I was taken aback, not expecting a non-magical Briton to be able to tell good seid instruction from useless instruction.

"Captain Davies is very good at seid," Aagog assured me.

So there! Captain Davies felt the need to elaborate. "We did a lot of work on identifying the precise color of the weave. We tested various light sources in order to find the one best suited for the job and our eyes. We practiced tying and untying several kinds of knots - quick loose weave, very tight weaves, weaves made to look like nothing happened. Fortunately for me, my gran' taught me both knitting and embroidery. In the military we learn all kinds of knots - how to tie them in the dark, how to untie and retie them after you've passed, how to swiftly cut through them. We are trained to work in the dark. I can disassemble, clean, and reassemble not only my primary weapon, but three others blindfolded. I can work in gloves. All our soldiers can. We can be of use in this. I also had an advantage, because my eyes and mind are very sensitive to minor differences in color shades. At university, I began my studies as a studio artist. I was good, but I was neither pretty enough nor unusual enough to succeed at the PR needed to be a commercial success. So I chose the military as a career. Still, I retain my art training. Some singers have perfect pitch. I have an unusually keen ability to discern slightly different colors and to see color in different types of light and mentally correct to what they would look like under different lighting. My troops can't match that skill, but they most definitely can provide value in seid-space."

That was good to know. Why was I just learning this now? Why did my team constantly need to assert useful skills, which I had over-looked in my comfort-zone choice of familiar bodies and hands to do even tasks for which they weren't particularly suited? I vowed to talk to all my team more frequently. I realised that Hermione, who wanted to avoid killing far more than I did, had been put in too many bad situations by my treating her as a fighter, just because she was very familiar and I had absolute faith in her, even though I knew she wasn't a fighter. She needed to think more and fight less, just as I needed to. She especially needed to be steered to key work that didn't require fighting.

When I looked up from my thoughts, I saw that Captain Davies was looking at me and waiting for my attention to return to her. I suspect she thought I was receiving a Stone missive, rather than mentally scolding myself. "Blacky stopped by a couple of times looking for you. I think he found something important. I watched him as carefully as I could. I don't think he reported to Odin. Perhaps you should blow your whistle, or whatever else you do, to summon him."

I thanked her and immediately blew my wooden whistle. I also made a mental call to Blacky through Yddgrasil. I think the whistle worked, because I only had to wait ten minutes until Blacky was perched upon my shoulder. He had found three heavy spots, one a very heavy spot, in the areas of seid-space I asked him to explore. One of Odin's ravens had flown above him as he observed one of the heavy spots. That was probably why Blacky felt no need to report to Odin. I was able to pluck the image of those spots from Blacky's mind. It was literally a birds'-eye view, but I looked at them long enough and from several angles as Blacky approached and flew past them. I was able to convince myself that I could find them from ground level on the ribbon. I thanked Blacky and asked him to continue his patrols in seid-space and to also watch over the pyramid and Government House on Vanaheimr. He lifted off my shoulder and disappeared down the well in Odin's observatory. That was clearly the quickest route to both seid-space and Vanaheimr.

Captain Davies and Commander St. John volunteered to stay behind to guard the camp. If Odin, and especially Frijjo, hadn't already recognised how skilled Captain Davies had become at the mechanics of seid, I didn't want her to accidentally give away that secret. The possibility that non-magical Britons could be effective in seid-space would undoubtedly be viewed by Frijjo as a serious threat. They could supply far more seid warriors than we had Witches. In addition to the non-magical Britons, we had the spiders. If Frijjo found out about Captain Davies' skill, she would see her dream for Vanir control of seid-space gone, before it progressed any farther. I and those not guarding the camp joined Odin and our fellow Questers in the throne room of Valaskjalf.

Odin took the time before dinner to reprise the prior days' lessons on seid. He spent most of the time discussing the subtle color and style differences that allowed a seid-master to determine the age of a portion of the ribbon of history and edits made to it, and to identify the weaver of that little bit of time. He demonstrated how subtly different the colors looked under a dozen different light sources. We agreed upon the light source which worked best for us. It was a crystal container filled with the dye of a phosphorescent fish from the river that flowed past the mountain upon which Valaskjalf perched.

Odin talked about vertical Apparates to gain perspective, without leaving the ribbon and losing one's way. He talked about choosing an appropriate point from which to exit the ribbon and how to determine where to remount it. One wanted to exit in a built-up area, with distinctive buildings. The worst thing was to dismount in open farming terrain and have to travel miles to find something identifiable. Yes, there was a danger of being seen and captured in a built-up area. One just had to be careful. We had our cloaks and he could make himself invisible. There were also dangers in traveling across pasture or planted fields - you stood out and were quickly tagged as 'stranger'. To remount, it helped to memorize the scenery of your departure point and memorize a fixed key point in its relationship to the sun or moon at a time of day. When you were close to the re-entry point, there often was an intermittent, barely noticeable, shimmer in the air in front of that point. It was much more visible in the dark. Some had the ability to sense it with their minds or even by contact with the sensitive skin of their face or forearms. Most importantly, the ribbon seemed to have a certain affinity for the departee, which began to diminish after a day and was fully gone after three. It was easier for the departee to find the access point than for even a well-trained student of seid who had not very recently departed the ribbon at that point. It was as if the ribbon remembered you and thought you belonged upon it at precisely that spot.

It was important not to stay off the ribbon for long. In addition to re-entry being more difficult, life became progressively unluckier for those who were in the wrong time and place. The universe knew you weren't supposed to be where you were, and it fought you. Very frequently, you met with a tragic accident. If you found yourself in such an unfortunate situation, the best means of saving yourself was your raven. For that reason, we must always work in teams and each team must always have its raven. Cho had a raven. He needed several more raven keepers. He would try to teach one non-magical but wasn't at all convinced this was possible. He did make this rather stunning statement: "Being magical is at least as much about training and being in an area having a sufficiently strong compatible magical force as it is about genetics. Magical and non-magical humans, Aesir, and Vanir are all basically the same people. Oftentimes a non-magical human becomes at least a little magical if the magical force is tuned a little differently. We are the same people at root but have moved apart a little at the genetic level due to separation and frequency of the magical forces in which we matured."

That was all he wanted to say. It was time to eat and he led us to the dining hall. I was pleased that I would not have to convince Odin to give us more ravens. If I had stayed longer in Britain, I would have tried to recruit a local raven. That was a task for my next trip home.

The food was a delicious and exciting blend of Aesir, Vanir, and Earth ingredients and preparation styles. I went to my bed in a very good mood.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 – Training Hard**

I awoke feeling surprisingly refreshed. While Hermione bathed, I messaged Harry. I told him what Odin had said about the non-magical Britons and how surprisingly adept Captain Davies had proven to be in seid-weaving. Harry was taken-aback, but almost immediately declared this to be an advantage which must be pushed. It would help him in his dealings with Tony, who had asked him and McGonagall over dinner "but what's in this for Britain?"

Harry told me that the trove of documents impounded at the Prophet building and Cuffe's home was yielding more evidence than originally thought. There seemed to be enough to convict Barnabas and to raise serious question about several opposition Gamots who were not currently jailed. "We can't arrest them with what we have today, but I am encouraged that we will find more. At minimum, we know who is dangerous, as opposed to those who simply honestly oppose our policies. The biggest thing is notes of a meeting with slug-Slytherin in Barnabas's own handwriting. That is awfully damning. No direct links between Slytherin and anyone else, not even those we've jailed."

Harry and I exchanged words of love, I bathed quickly, then it was off to breakfast. I was not surprised when Odin suggested we eat all that our bellies would hold, because we were likely to work very hard straight through to dinner. I already knew to stuff some food into my pockets. I took two whole fruits of unknown identity and two rolls made from the local Asgard grain. These wouldn't foul my pockets.

Odin led us all to the throne room. "Just line up in a straight row, starting here." Odin pointed to the starting point and motioned in the direction he wanted the line to follow. His hand motion told me that lined up, excluded me. He opened a side door to the outdoors and a dozen ravens fluttered into the room. They sat along the edge of the raised dais, which held Odin's throne. With a sweeping motion of his right arm, Odin sent his swarm one by one in quick succession toward the line of Questers. It was a strange sight. The first bird landed upon Cissy's shoulder, since she was at the end of the line nearest the dais. It then hopped to the next shoulder, then the next, and the next. As soon as it left Cissy's shoulder, it was replaced by a new raven, until the seventh raven chose to stay with her. It took over an hour for this ceremony to be completed and at its end, Cissy, Captain Davies, Mona, Hermione, and Professor Sturluson hosted ravens.

A beaming Professor Sturluson declared "I knew it! The ancient lore points the true way."

Odin then addressed those he called 'the honorable raven bearers' and instructed them on how to exchange mental messages with their birds, how the birds liked to be 'petted' with a smoothing, whole hand, wrap-around, sweeping motion down the top of their necks, across the full length of their back and wings, and ending with an up-sweeping stroke across the tail. "These are working birds not pets, well they also are fine pets, but they are trained to work. Most especially they are outdoor birds. You should not keep them indoors for more than a day, two at most and if they insist on going outside, then you must release them at once. Indoors they need water, and..."

A long list of mandatory and alternate foods was given as well as a reminder that the birds needed an acceptable place to relieve themselves. Odin produced a little bag of what I quickly realised were wooden bird whistles. The whistles bore identifying marks and were banded together in pairs. Odin matched the whistles to the birds, pocketing the whistles of the birds who hadn't selected a bearer. This is just how my mind phrased the situation, but my thought was confirmed when Daphne Greenglass piped up with a complaint.

"Keep your whistles safe. Hide the second one as a spare but hide it where you can always access it quickly if you misplace the primary."

"Why did two Muggles get birds, while Witches like my sister and I did not?"

"I know that you British Witches and Wizards have an expression: 'the wand chooses the Wizard.' It is the same with my birds. I have no more idea why a bird chooses a bearer than your wand seller knows why your wand chose you. Perhaps it is your smell, or your mental vibrations, or it simply chooses a pretty face. They do much prefer females to males."

Daphne was clearly offended by the 'pretty face' comment, but Odin was already continuing his instruction and explaining an exercise with the whistle. The bearers were to spend a half hour stroking their birds and softly speaking to them. "Let you bird rest its head against yours. Try to tell what it is thinking. Think thoughts to your bird. Now, I want you to blow into your whistle a few times, so your bird becomes accustomed to the exact sound. You will blow naturally, because you must blow the same way each time. Good, good. Now tell your bird 'away!'.

"If you can't think the thought to your bird, then you must say the word aloud. And you must practice thinking it."

All the birds were aloft and flying around the buildings in a wide circle. Odin instructed the bearers to blow their whistles. The birds returned and landed upon the bearer's left shoulders.

"Excellent!" Odin declared. "Now you and your bird must spend some time together in my charging ovals. Talk and think to your bird while you are in the oval. A half hour per customer pair. We'll start with those who couldn't think to their bird. Captain Davies and Professor Sturluson, please follow me. Hermione, you must fetch your Phoenix and introduce her to your raven."

While Odin and Hermione were away, I searched the ground for twigs, eventually cutting two twigs from a short tree. Frijjo stared at me the whole time, as I Witch-sculpted two spare whistles. I tucked one spare into each of my boots. Frijjo found this all very amusing, finally giving me a verbal jab "you are a very foolish little Witch not to have done that much sooner."

As soon as Frijjo turned her back and walked away, I quickly sculpted two more spares, placing one in the upper pocket of what Hermione called my 'explorer outfit'. Both the shirt and the pants were made of hemp and had numerous pockets. The outfit was far more practical than robes for... well for just about everything.

To the raven-less, Odin declared "not to worry. The ravens don't make friends with everyone. Some are wolf-persons, others raven-person, or horse-persons. They all love Odin. Almost every animal does. Now we are prepared to safely enter seid-space." We will do so in teams of three of you and one of us. I'll lead Captain Davies, Hermione, Daphne Greengrass, and Aagog's sister." Frijjo will lead Ginny, Barb, Colonel Cholmondeley, and Aagog."

As Odin set off with his team, Frijjo whispered at me "see, Odin taunts me with one of the Acromantula. Where's your bird? We'll need Blacky in there, I'm not going to depend upon a spider."

"I think he's in seid-space. I've summoned him."

"You could have done that earlier, but fine, you're not much of a planner. We'll start with identifying weave colors and tying, and untying knows."

Blacky arrived at that moment, which reinforced my sense that Frijjo was just looking for things in order to lord it over me and continue our personal cold war. But it wasn't a personal war. It was Britain versus her goal of personal power and glory at almost any cost. Not surprisingly, we began our instruction with the glowing-slime crystal and tying and untying knots. I had as good an eye as any in our group, when it came to identify faintly different shades of colour and extrapolating to what they would look like in different lighting. Frijjo had brought two other lights with her for this purpose, one of which was quite bright, but very necessary to safely travel the ribbon in the dark. Yes, I was discovering that seid-space has a night-time and that was the time Odin had chosen for this lesson.

After over an hour of this activity, Frijjo had announced that we would march along the ribbon and then she would pick a spot for us to dismount. I was wondering how she would choose a suitable dismount spot, since it was also dark in the world outside this part of seid-space. Of course, I had no way of knowing whether we were passing through the present or the past. It was impossible to tell which of Odin's worlds lay outside of the ribbon, although I hadn't noticed any of the pronounced up- or down-slants, which I associated with moving to a different world. After marching for what seemed like an hour, I felt that we were still in Asgard's past or present. Neither Frijjo nor Odin had seemed comfortable with travel into the future.

Frijjo suddenly stopped and took a seat upon the ribbon. I also sat and pulled out my water bottle and one of my rolls, thinking that this was a rest break. That thought was dispelled as Frijjo announced in a loud, commanding voice "okay, this is where all of you get off. I'll see you all back at your camp, unless you fail this test. Go. Go! I have other things I must do today. Oh, don't forget you can't just dismount and get right back onto the ribbon. I'll stay here a while and just order you right back off if you return too quickly. You need to explore enough to be able to tell me where and when you are. That's the question I'll be asking upon your return. Good luck."

I got up and led my little team off the ribbon and into real space. I took a sip of the water and shoved the roll back into a pocket. As soon as we left the ribbon, Aagog scrambled up my body and sat upon my shoulders. "I smell spiders!" she alerted me.

I thanked Aagog and explained the situation to the rest of the group. We were clearly in the distant past of Asgard, somewhere in its primordial forest, complete with many, many Acromantula. I asked Aagog if she thought she would be able to speak to the spiders and convince them that we were friendly.

"Language change. I think so. I am with you. They see that; decide you are friend. I hope!"

I declared an official rest break, explaining "we need to wait until it is light enough to get our bearings on the spot where we left the ribbon. We'll just sit here, at least all except a watch guard, facing the ribbon, until it is light enough to see landmarks. Don't get scared and start shooting. If any spiders come along, we need them to see Aagog and hope that persuades them to be friendly."

"What if they decide we stole an infant spider?" a surprisingly frightened Colonel Cholmondeley asked.

I was sufficiently concerned about her level of anxiety that I asked her to make certain her trigger lock was on. I was sufficiently anxious myself, that I told everyone that a small swig of the liquid luck was in order. My team didn't require any persuading. Aagog's warning had frightened us of this dark forest and of every sound we heard. We heard a lot of sounds. Some of the sounds were clearly birds. Unfortunately, other sounds had to be from ground animals. I pointed out a triad of stars in the sky, just a couple of degrees to the right of the point where we had dismounted the ribbon. "Please memorize this bit of sky. It's possible we wlll be forced to remount the ribbon at night."

I sent Blacky aloft to do a quick scout of the area. She was gone half an hour. She had killed a small bird and was prepared to eat it, but first she jumped up on my shoulder and showed me what she had seen. There was a small herd of four deer-like animals, but no giant spiders in sight. Of course, it's easier to hide a black spider, even a very large one, at night, than it is to hide four deer. I think Blacky recognized that obvious fact and watched the deer for most of her half hour aloft. Nothing attacked them and they showed no sign of panic. I took this to be a good sign.

We ate, drank, and chatted. Our fear receded into the background – always there, but no longer oppressive. As the first light of dawn appeared, we knew the definitive direction which was west. Don't ask me why, that's just the way it is on Asgard, unlike Terra or Vanaheimer. I hadn't needed any confirmation beyond "I smell spiders!" to be certain which world we were on, but this was at least confirmation. The spot where we left the ribbon was due west of where we were seated. It was dark enough to detect the faint shimmer in the air. I paced off the distance. It was the same hundred feet I had paced off when we dismounted the ribbon.

"Is Frijjo trying to kill us, sending us back to the time of the giant spiders?" Colonel Cholmondeley thought this highly likely.

I told my team that we should give at least serious consideration to the possibility that we were brought to this time and place for a reason. I could think on only one reason. "I have a hunch that we are near Odin's well," I told the team. "That is important to visit, and it makes sense that the ribbon would run very close to that well. Yggdrasil is the center of everything. Our task is to find the well, without getting lost."

"Or eaten," Barb corrected me.

We gathered sticks and stones to build a marker at the exact point where we needed to remount the ribbon. I told the team that we had less than a day to explore, and then we must return. I blew my whistle to summon Blacky. I looked at what he had just seen from the air. There was no apparent danger. I instructed him to search for the well from the air and then immediately come back to me.

"Your conclusion on why we were sent to this place makes sense," Barb told me. "But why this time?"

"Only four times make any sense to me: before any Aesir, post the Light Guardian, found the well; when Odin's predecessor - his name escapes me at the moment - found the well; when Odin found the well; and when the Aesir burned the forest to kill the spiders. Some of those times are far scarier than others."

Blacky returned to my shoulder. There was a mound a half mile ahead, which he thought was the mound of the well. I relayed this information to the team, suggested we might want to make a quick return to the ribbon to renew our twenty-four-hour window. I told them that it also might help to have Aagog's mother with us, if we were about to meet unfamiliar Acromantula. She would be proof that we hadn't kidnapped an immature spider. I whispered instructions to my team. Secretly, I wanted to make certain that Frijjo wasn't on the ribbon and spying upon us.

We marched back onto the ribbon. Frijjo was there. She complained that we hadn't spent enough time off the ribbon.

"Place is Asgard, only a hundred feet from Yggdrasil's well. Time is before the pre-Odin Aesir burnt the forest to kill the Acromantula. Our assignment is complete, and I can't believe you just dumped us, without warning, in a forest full of Acromantula."

I whispered to each of my team members, as I gave each a congratulatory pat on the back. As I finished, I spoke a hearty "well done, all. I think we passed that test."

"Don't be such a child. I stayed to protect you. You had Aagog to speak with the spiders on your behalf. You should have been fine. Yes, there was a very small amount of danger, but this was a test of your bravery and ingenuity as much as it was a test of your skills. I must say, you failed the bravery part of the test. I thought your natural curiosity would lead you to at least explore the well. I guess I over-estimated you. You're just a scared little Witch."

"I intend to explore the well. We wanted to reset our twenty-four-hour time limit, try to recruit one of our adult Acromantula so it didn't look like we had kidnapped Aagog, and make certain you weren't back here spying on us. You may be 'protecting' us from the safety of the ribbon, but somehow I feel less safe with you here."

It all happened very fast. Blacky screeched; Colonel Cholmondeley shouted for Aagog not to bite; Aagog said "I bite very hard"; Frijjo turned and searched for Aagog. Barb and I touched wand tips and shouted "Off!" Frijjo was gooped where she fell, her hands fixed at her sides and her eyes and hands covered.

"Not much time guys. Blacky and Aagog retrace our steps and bring back an adult Acromantula from Odin's property. The rest of us search for the branching from the ribbon, which I know must be here and must lead to the entrance from Yggdrasil to seid-space."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 – Are We Trapped In Time?**

I knew where, if not exactly when, I was, and I knew exactly where Yggdrasil was. I had stood on the narrow side of the lake, at Yggdrasil's base, many times. I should be able to apparate to Yggdrasil. Except, I couldn't. I had tried multiple times and felt a level of resistance far stronger than I had ever felt, even in those instances when I had been completing a field assignment to sense what it felt like to Apparate into the centre of a stone wall. The difference was scary. Exactly what lay between me and Yggdrasil. I had tried to Apparate back to our camp, to Valhalla, to the White Columns in Valaskjalf. I was completely blocked.

Barb and I each grabbed a slime lamp and led the search for the pathway to Yggdrasil. We were looking for either a side path or a large amount of weaving, which might block the side path. I thought the weaving was likely to be extremely old, so I was looking for very faded knots. I didn't mention this to my team, because I didn't want to discourage them from following their own hunches.

Before we began the search, I had tried, yet again, to communicate with any of the Black Stones, particularly Yggdrasil. We were right next to Yggdrasil, why couldn't I speak to it? I knew that we were very far from our own time. The Yggdrasil of this era didn't know me at all. It probably didn't even know that Terra, our Earth, was inhabited by thinking beings. It certainly didn't expect that some of those beings were magical.

I knew how to speak to a Stone. I thought that, even as a total stranger to it, that Yggdrasil ought to be able to hear my call. I wore my Keeper ring. I carried three wands with small purple diamonds. I adjusted my call precisely to the pitch, which Odin taught me to use in addressing Yggdrasil. I could not get a response. Perhaps Yggdrasil slept. Perhaps one could only attract its attention by standing beside the lake, beneath the well. I was trying to find a branching path from the ribbon, which would allow me to do exactly that.

As I thought, I continued to examine the knots along the travel ribbon. How could I possibly be so far back in time? I had walked the ribbon with both Odin and Frijjo. Never had I travelled anything close to even a thousand years back in time. I had covered barely a hundred years on much longer walks than we had taken today. It was clear that Frijjo had chosen a very special piece of ribbon to march us along. It had been too dark to truly get a sense of where we were or where we had walked, but I couldn't help thinking we must have travelled on a blocked section of ribbon, which she had opened especially for this trip. That certainly hinted of treachery. I again rued that I couldn't read when Frijjo lied. That left me so helpless and subject to manipulation.

I heard an excited shout from Barb. "I think this is it!" Colonel Cholmondeley and I rushed forward as quickly as we could. We had to drag or levitate Frijjo wherever we went. Barb was about thirty feet behind us. As we approached, she pointed with her wand at a large oval of pale knots, as she held the lamp up against the weave with her other arm. It was certainly very old weaving, if it was not a part of the original path of history. I stared at the wall of knots all around us. I could not find any moving pictures to show what history was locked in the knots. Apparently, the pictures could die as they aged.

"I didn't want to just go ahead and start hacking away at this big section of weaving, but I thought it must block a wide section of ribbon. It seemed dangerous to explore on my own."

"You were wise to pause," I assured Barb. Perhaps if you and the Colonel just cut a little circle in the center, we will be able to see what, if anything, lies beyond. These knots look ancient and Odin warned us that a pathway, which has been blocked for a long time, can wither and die. It could vanish at any instance, obliterating anything or anyone on that section of ribbon."

Barb and Colonel Cholmondeley seemed to enjoy hacking away at the knots. I guess it was an acceptable way for members of a warrior society to work off the stress born of severe anxiety, when showing fear would be unacceptable. I couldn't deny that I was frightened. Barb and I lobbed balls of light as far beyond the hole as we could. There definitely was ribbon and a path as far as we could see. I'm sure we were able to see at least twenty feet, probably closer to thirty, beyond the barrier.

"That's very strange," I told my team. "Everything which Odin taught me says this path should have totally collapsed well over a thousand years ago. It didn't. It looks as wide and as unobstructed as the ribbon we're standing on. That can't be right. Wait... I need the the other bright light Frijjo was carrying, the one that shows colors more accurately. The slime lamp is a little too dim."

"I'll get it," Barb volunteered.

I led us all in completely emptying Frijjo's pockets and rucksack. She carried a lot more food and water than the rest of us did. She also carried Odin's anti-Apparation device. I turned it off. We split up all her possessions. I took the pendant and necklace in the hope that I could use it to turn on the magical circle, which I imagined lying at the end of this section of ribbon.

"I'm hoping that this is the only reason that I've been unable to Apparate." I pointed at Odin's device.

Nope. I couldn't reach Yggdrasil in this time and I couldn't reach Odin's property in our own time. I didn't want to reach Odin's property in this time and find myself even deeper into the forest and without even the protection which Aagog might provide. We truly seemed to be trapped in time.

I grabbed the light and walked back to the cut section of the knotted weave. "It's pink!" I shouted. "It's been dyed, or painted, or something to make it look much older than it really is. This barrier likely is quite new."

The other's gathered around me for a close look. "Yes, tear it down!" Barb shouted as a battle cry.

We hacked away at the knots with so much abandon, that I felt a need to warn: "please be careful near the edges of the barrier. We don't want to harm the original weave."

Even taking proper precautions, the barrier was quickly eliminated. I shone the bright light ahead of us. There wasn't even an appreciable layer of dust upon the ribbon.

I felt only mild trepidation as we walked into this newly revealed side branch. We had to stop every fifteen feet to go back and drag Frijjo forward. We had traveled about a hundred feed and not encountered either obstacle or threat. Barb decided we would make better speed if she simply levitated Frijjo along beside her. We travelled another fifty or so feet like this, seeing no edits in the weave and no narrowing of the path. We were encased in weave, extending all the way around and beneath the ribbon in a circle. The weave looked truly ancient. I loosened a knot on the side wall and shone the light upon it. There was no change in color inside the knot. The paleness wasn't trickery, this weave was ancient.

I shone the light ahead. There seemed to be a partial barrier about 40 feet ahead. I thought I could see something beyond the barrier. As we neared the barrier, I was certain that the ribbon path continued beyond it. It was an incredibly loose weave, with two-inch gaps within the weave. The light shone through the coarse weave and revealed a more substantial barrier about thirty feet ahead of us. As Barb drew even with me, she dropped Frijjo. There was a soft thud as she hit the ribbon.

"Another problem," Barb reported. "My wand is growing weak very fast. I couldn't have moved her even five more feet."

"Of course! I've been stupid. Frijjo has taken us to a place where there is no magical force for us to draw upon. The magic we stored is all we've got. We must be very careful not to waste any more of it. And then there is this." I pointed to a foot high by two feet wide sign of thin silver with gold writing on it. The language was not quite Aesir. I could pick out almost unchanged words for 'God' and 'Danger'. The sign must be truly ancient. Perhaps it had even been written by the Light Guardian.

"Let's take a rest for some food and water, while I try to search my mind for saved memories of this language. I know I could interpret it, if I could tie into Yggdrasil or our Black Stone, but I can't do that. I have only what Hermione taught me and some ancient priestess knowledge. I think perhaps if I try to think between the ancient language of the Vanir royals and Aesir, I might be able to come close to interpreting this. I have two rolls and these two pieces of fruit and I certainly am sharing."

The others said they had followed my lead at the breakfast table and carried about the same amount of provisions, so sharing wasn't required. We each drank and ate. I limited myself to one roll and one piece of strange fruit. The fruit was good, if a little bruised from riding in my pocket. Thinking of royal Vanir helped me a little with the sign.

"I think the sign says something like 'Danger! A great God sleeps beyond. There is a price for the magic you seek.' That's more than a little scary, knowing that Odin sacrificed an eye and that little on these worlds can match the power of Yggdrasil. I'm sure he is the God who sleeps beyond this point. I think it is even chancier to risk the forest and the well likely just leads to the same lake and Yggdrasil as the ribbon does. We could go back and either await rescue or chance the forest. Does anybody else see another option, because I'm not wild about any of those three? If Frijjo sought to lure us into a trap, I fear that we are well and truly trapped. I guess the other option is to wake and question Frijjo."

"No, I'm convinced it is best to force her to remain asleep. She caused this danger. She'll only make it worse, if she has any ability to act."

That was Barb, by the way. Colonel Cholmondeley was determined to press forward. I could tell that she didn't believe in Gods. She hadn't seen the Light Guardian, or the dark Gods we had fought, or even an enraged Frijjo. Still, I had to agree with her. I'd sooner face an Yggdrasil unhappy at being prematurely awakened than face hundreds of enraged Acromantula. I suggested that we carefully cut the weave at one edge of the ribbon and do so very carefully, so that we could re-tie it later and so that we didn't damage the weave encircling the path. We'd cut just enough knots to squeeze past this porous barrier. The cautious approach meant it took us an hour to do the work, including loosely knotting the loose threads near the sidewall, to avoid any chance of unravelling. This stretch of ribbon was basically a tunnel for its entire length. I felt that must be protection against an unknown, but very dangerous, something. We squeezed through the crack we had created, then it took all three of us straining our backs to drag Frijjo through and pull her loose from the tangles.

The solid barrier I had spotted from beyond the warning barrier was a stone wall at the point where the ribbon path took a hard right. We followed a narrower path for twenty yards but bumped up against another rock wall. This made no sense. The path had to lead somewhere, and we had to be very close to the Yggdrasil cavern. I was convinced that, like the entry hall to the Goblin cavern beneath London, the Yggdrasil cavern was protected by a magicked phoney wall. I didn't know which of the two choices was the phoney one. I thought the original path, before the turn, was oriented toward where Yggdrasil must be. It also made a better ruse, since the natural reaction was to follow the right turn and assume that its end was blocked by a phony wall. I positioned myself right in front of the point at the end of the original path, which would have been dead center, had the turn not existed. I took my Mother ring to rub away that barrier, giving my Keeper ring to Barb. She would test the wall at the end of the narrow tunnel off the turning.

It didn't take long to determine that I was working on the phoney wall. I broke through in a small area. I summoned Barb to help me. Between us, we scraped a big enough gap for our party to walk through. It was easy. There wasn't enough magic here to sustain the phoney wall and it had already lost strength. We walked through the opening into what was obviously the cavern and lake of Yggdrasil, although the cavern was a little narrower and less high than in our day. I knew that streams cut caverns and chasms, but didn't that take many thousands of years to produce noticeable change? How far in the past were we? Even before we stepped into the cavern, I heard the waterfall, where the small stream flowing out of the lake dove into a chasm. Before I had stood on the narrow edge of the lake. Now we were on the wide edge, although less wide than in our time.

"Watch for spiders," I warned. I dearly wished I still had Aagog and Blacky with me. They could smell spiders. They could also smell a hanging Aesir. I held one of the bright lights and Colonel Cholmondeley the other as we slowly walked along the lake shore. Barb tried to drag Frijjo behind us.

"Just leave her up against the cavern wall, as far from the water as possible. Everyone be alert! In our time, there were some truly nasty fish in this lake. One almost took Frijjo's arm off in less than half a minute. I'm going to assume they're still present in the lake."

That posed a problem. Yggdrasil was on the other side of the lake and I wasn't sure I had enough magic to Apparate there and back, or even just there. Also, that opposite shoreline was even narrower than it is in our time.

I sat down on the lake shore directly opposite Yggdrasil. I concentrated very hard and tried multiple ways to establish communication. There was no response. I was carrying one of Hermione's full-size purple diamonds and I had Frijjo's pendant, which could turn on a purple-diamond circle, but I had no crystals or silver wire with which to build such a circle. Unless the rock I was sitting on was lodestone, I was also lacking that. I realised that I had hoped that the ancients had left a de-energised circle for a relatively advanced people to find and turn on. We hadn't found one. I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was. There was no circle or obvious remains of a circle in this cavern in our time.

"That was most unsatisfactory. Let's at least walk to the end of the lake."

We walked. The lake shore narrowed to nothing. We couldn't quite approach the narrowest part. I knew that the carnivorous fish were accomplished leapers. As in our time, there was no way to safely walk along this edge to the other side of the lake. We returned to the point directly opposite Yggdrasil. Should I Apparate to that narrow opposite shore and try to use the pendant to re-start Yggdrasil. Was it worth the risk knowing that the pendant was almost certainly younger than the time in which Yggdrasil slept? I didn't want to just turn around and go back. I feared that we had followed a path from our time which only Frijjo knew about and that it was a difficult path. Could Blacky and Aagog find their way back to our time and then lead rescuers to us? I lacked confidence that this was the case. We might very well be on our own. I was tempted to try Frijjo's pendant from this distance but didn't want to waste magical energy on a too distant attempt that might become my only chance. The pendant was supposed to be able to operate a circle from twenty to thirty feet away. Was I that close now? I couldn't convince myself that I was.

"I know, it's a tough decision," Colonel Cholmondeley interrupted my thoughts. "I think you need to Apparate across the lake."

"Way too dangerous," Barb spoke instantly. "Ginny is important. We can't lose her."

"She is our leader. Sometimes the purpose of a leader is to take risks, when only they have a chance at success. Ginny has a better chance of successfully Apparating than you do. Once she Apparates, she has a far, far better chance of re-starting Yggdrasil and being accepted by it. Likely her mind bears more of the imprint of the Light Guardian than yours does."

"Okay," Barb relented. "I will be prepared to rescue Ginny, if need be."

I focused upon a spot almost flush against the stone wall on the other side of the lake. There was too little space between Yggdrasil and the lake to chance that. My landing spot was about ten feet to the left of Yggdrasil. The shore seemed widest at that point. Other than that, I couldn't tell you why I chose to land so far from Yggdrasil. Perhaps I feared I would somehow startle it into lashing out, if I suddenly appeared almost up against it.

I had one of the bright lights turned on and hung from my waist. I focused upon my landing spot and about four inches above the lake shore. I couldn't risk coming in too high and somehow rolling or sliding into that lake. I put my Keeper and Mother rings onto my two unused wands, concentrated as hard as I could. I didn't even feel a churn as I appeared just two inches above the far shore of the lake. I steadied myself, grabbed the light, lofting it above my head as I started to walk toward Yggdrasil. I saw Yggdrasil's mirror blackness, and... the biggest Acromantula I had ever seen, hanging inertly by four of its legs, at the same spot from which I had hung. The spider didn't stir. I edged as close to the lake as I safely could and moved to within four feet of Yggdrasil, which was as close to the spider as I was willing to go. I held my breath and kept a wand in my left hand, as I touched the central purple diamond of the pendant.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 – The Way Things Really Were**

As I felt Yggdrasil coming back to life, I forced myself to move onto the narrow strip of solid ground between it and the water. I pressed my back against its smooth stone surface, sensed the faint vibrations and beginnings of warmth and then reached with my mind to introduce myself. "Hi Yggdrasil, I'm Ginny. You don't know me yet. I'm the Mother of the Future from my time and I guess from my community."

I waited. I waited a full minute, then the almost familiar voice appeared in my head.

**I don't know any Ginny. What sort of name is that. It doesn't sound Aesir or Vanir.**

"I'm from the future. I don't know how far in the future, but I think a very long time. I'm from what you call, or at least will call in the future, Terra. I came here from Asgard, through seid-space."

**It is strange that I don't know you. I can tell that you have a piece of me in your head. If you know of Asgard, Vanaheimr, Terra, and seid-space, then you know a lot. Why are you here and what do you want of me. I have dozed, not by my own choice, since the Aesir Gods departed as uncorporeals. I was ordered to sleep until suitable successors arrived. The remaining Aesir never contacted me. Either they didn't try or they lacked the skill. The Acromantula did find me and make an effort at contact as they climbed down the well and climbing**** up my sides. The rules allowed me to awaken to a half-dozing state. I have communed with the wisest of the Acromantula, imparting what knowledge they were able to grasp and affording what little protection and guidance I was able to provide.**

"My piece of rock is from your off-spring on Terra. I came to Asgard to study how to interpret, weave, and protect history in seid-space and how to repair and build a White Column. Odin and Frijjo were supposed to teach me, but I think Frijjo lured me here to die. And my official full name is Ginevra Weasley Potter. I'd like to figure out when I am, what happened on Asgard to cause the Aesir Gods to leave and to decide that you must sleep, and why an incredibly large Acromantula hangs where Odin and I hung. That suggests that he or she is far more advanced in learning seid and magic than I am. I've learned that seid-space is the natural domain of the Acromantula, but we saw or smelled none during our journey here. Aagog did smell them in the forest. Aagog is an immature, but very talented, Acromantula. We do have Acromantula on my world. They were the only ones known to exist in our time. We just brought some of them to Asgard. Odin encouraged us to do this. That was in my time, but I've summoned some of them and hope they will be here soon. I need to get back to my own time. I couldn't make contact with any of the Black Stones, until I brought you out of your doze with the royal pendant of the Vanir. I'd like to talk to you more. In my time, Yggdrasil had a very nice library in which I could visit as a spirit or in my body and talk to it. Can I do that here and now? I'd rather come in my body, because I am afraid to leave my body where it is. I know there are carnivorous fish in this lake and I'm also afraid of a starved Acromantula, who doesn't know me.

**Fear not, you are with me. I can order the fish not to approach the shore. Baalak is a gentle soul and will not harm you if I label you friend. She would starve first. She is the leader of what Acromantula remain. The Aesir hunt them mercilessly. She is also my source of information from the outside world, but she has been as you see her for more than one of your years. She is a thinker, not a fighter, and seeks a way to save her people. Her people were respected when the Gods ruled Asgard, but now that they are gone, the common folk are removing that which frightens them. I try my best to stop the slaughter, but the Gods forced me into near-sleep and imposed rules. Baalak's spirit wanders and reports back to me. Apart from my children, I have no other source of information. I cannot think properly without a lot of information. You must feed me. Free your spirit form and I will bring you to me.**

"I have two friends and a prisoner across the lake. May I message them through you?"

**Yes. Tell them them they may join you. I will take them bodily into myself. It's easier if you also keep your body, if, as I sense, your prisoner is in unaware mode. Best that you all be in the same mode. Just tell them to stand in a group on the opposite shore and to all hold hands, even the prisoner.**

I conveyed that message and my situation. I told Barb that she should be able to Apparate Frijjo to the appropriate position across the lake from me. She must tap into the magic now flowing from Yggdrasil. We were soon in Yggdrasil's ancient parlour. It was dimly lit by wall sconces, carpeted in sewn-together brown fur swirled with back, and furnished entirely in crystal furniture with soft fur-covered cushions. We were seated on small cushions atop the fur carpet, with a short crystal table in front of us. Frijjo lay on the carpet, unconscious and gooped. There was a very large stuffed cushion in the corner of the room farthest from us. I thought I knew its purpose. Yggdrasil confirmed my guess.

**Welcome to myself. Baalak's spirit will join us, shortly. I invited her to come in body, but she says she is weak enough that if she wakes her body, it must feed and remain awake. You must wake this Frijjo and free her body, so I may speak with her.**

We compromised on talking a little without waking her and then waking Frijjo and uncovering her eyes, but keeping the gloves on and her arms gooped to her sides. This was an excellent precaution. Frijjo was furious.

"It's just that it seemed as though Frijjo was trying to cause our deaths," I asserted to back-up nods from my companions. "This was meant to be a simple initial training exercise in mounting and re-mounting the traveling ribbon of time. We weren't warned that we needed to pack for a multi-day ordeal. We were marched here at night, so we couldn't see the path we were taking and then chucked off the ribbon into a dark forest. We deduced that we were in the forest near the well. My raven confirmed the nearness of the well. As I said, Aagog smelled the presence of many spiders. I'm convinced they were about to kill us. When we escaped back to the ribbon, also to re-group and to re-start our twenty-four hour period of easiest re-mount, we found Frijjo was still there - six hours after we left the ribbon. She said she was there to protect us, but we didn't believe her so we used a curse to temporarily turn off her mind. I'll feel far more comfortable if you can tell us when we are, before we wake her up. That will put us on a more even footing.

I should tell you that we didn't come here by the well, although Barb, Aagog and I have been that route in the future. We came by way of a section of ribbon, which had recently been woven shut. The weave was treated to make it look very old, but it was pink inside the knots. We came to another loose barrier, with a warning sign that basically said 'Danger! A powerful God sleeps inside." The path ended in a phony stone wall, which we had to scrape away with my Mother and Keeper rings. That's how we got here.

I fear that if Frijjo wanted to kill us, then the most dangerous time to bring us would be the day when the Aesir burned the great forest to kill all of the Acromantula. Since Aagog smelled them in the forest, and you have one, we probably haven't come to that day yet. It also could have been when the Aesir Gods left Asgard, or when Odin or his predecessor found you, but I think you've eliminated those possibilities. . I think it must be the fire. We have to warn the spiders!"

**You terrify me. I am sending a warning to Baalak and the other Acromantula. I understand that Baalak listens and has heard all. The fire you describe has not happened yet, but the Aesir have acted strangely since their Gods assumed spirit form and left them. They think that without their Gods, that they are helpless and that the spiders will kill them. Baalak's spirit will be here very soon. The other spiders are trying to either escape from the forest or seek refuge beside my lake. This is most serious and I am now wide awake. I have yet to meet Odin or the one you call his predecessor. The Gods departed only five years ago. The Aesir and Acromantula have fought a low intensity war since then, with the Acromantula not permitted to enter the prairie or farm land.**

I thanked Yggdrasil. We then honored our side of the bargain and awakened Frijjo.

"Where am I and why did you attack me. I was teaching you."

We removed her blindfold, but the goop and gloves stayed on. She fought her bonds in frustration.

"You were leading us into a trap in ancient times. As to where and when you are: you are inside Yggdrasil, in whichever time you led us to."

"We must leave at once. I took us to the night before the Aesir burned the forest to kill the last of the spiders."

I received a strong mental blast from Baalak, whose spirit had joined us. **My people are being killed and you didn't warn them. You wanted them to die. I must try to save them.**

"It is dangerous to change history. I admit I don't want your kind ruling our worlds. Legend says that the fires began just after noon. What time is it."

**As you should know, it is just coming up noon. I have told my people they must fight to create a path for others to flee. They are surrounded. They already smell smoke. They will break out. They won't spare the Aesir murderers. I've told those too weak to run that they must shelter in the well. Our fighters fight and die. I go to assist in spirit.**

"What can we do?" I asked her.

**Very little. You are only three and my people would slay you as Aesir. Don't let this one loose. I sense she has more treachery planned. Bring my body inside Yggdrasil. It should be safe there. If not, take yourselves and my body to a safe place. I carry two last eggs. You must use them to save my people. I think that is what you have already done, if you have some of my people with you.**

Reinforcements arrived. There were two giant spiders, Aagog, Hermione, Cissy, Odin, and Captain Davies. I explained the problem. We left Yggdrasil to recover Baalak's body. The two adult spiders freed the body. Hermione and I Apparated it inside Yggdrasil. We barely made it. The cavern was filled floor-to-ceiling with smoke from the forest fire and the smoke was becoming thicker and thicker. The fire was spreading incredibly fast. This must be something akin to Fiendfyre. No natural forest fire could move that fast. All of our spiders called out for any fellow Acromantula inside the cavern. There was no answer. The adult male insisted upon climbing the well. I promised to await his return. He motioned us back into Yggdrasil. This was his personal responsibility to the spider King. I asked his name. He told me Boldgog. I wished him well, as he was already climbing the well.

Yggdrasil told me that he was sending magical energy to Boldgog, so that he barely needed to breathe. I Apparated back to Yggdrasil's parlour. Frijjo was still raging at my companions, but turned against me as soon as she noticed my return.

"You tamper with history. That is a terrible crime."

"Which you do every day you are in seid-space," I reminded her.

"I am a Goddess, who knows what I am doing. You are a foolish and scared little Witch who thinks she understands far more than she actually does. This was all a part of the lesson you must learn. You must be able to find a way out of danger. You must learn you can't save everyone. This already happened long before any of us was born. All I did was bring you here to witness it. The Acromantula had to die"

"That was not the lesson I told you to teach the Questers," Odin thundered. "That was VERY far from what I intended and what you agreed to do. That would have been a very challenging lesson in the dark in a safe place. You sent them where my ancestors were too frightened to go with any weapons, supplies, and any preparations they wished. You just dropped them there without warning."

**Boldgog returns with two survivors. I will draw them to me.**

"Ginny already knew a lot - more than you realize. What she NEEDED to learn was to get over her childish sentimentality and desire to save everyone. The fate of the Acromantula was decided very long ago. Ginny's job was to learn when and where she was and then return home. Her job was to protect and save her team. She wasted time and risked her own life trying vainly to save the Acromantula."

I decided that a bluff was called for, if I was to learn the whole truth: "I saw your edits in seid-space. You were at that point of time. You could have saved them. You at least could have saved many of them. You chose not to do that."

"It is not like there are no Acromantula left. You have them on your world. Odin stupidly allowed you to bring them to Asgard and seid-space. That is foolish misplaced guilt on his part. Those giant spiders are dangerous. Odin did what he did in part so that I can't linger in most parts of seid-space. He wants to strip me of my strongest tool. You are his new favorite. He has cast me aside."

"I have not abandoned you. I gave you gold and silver to help your cause on Vanaheimr. I sent Ginny and her Questers to repair magic on Vanaheimr. I..."

"You do not order them to fight for me. I need to fight my way to the throne. I have many opponents.

"You could have saved my people and you did not. You did not even warn them. You brought your student to watch them die."

"Yes. I won't apologize for that."

Boldgog bit her. He bit her very hard. He moved too fast for me to stop him. Odin was much closer to Frijjo, but made no move to stop Boldgog.

Boldgog staggered away from Frijjo. Three thoughts flashed in my mind as surprising realizations. The Acromantula didn't actually speak English. I hadn't learned their language from the Light Guardian, because they didn't have a language. They communicated telepathically. I also realized that Boldgog was dying. He had exposed himself to too much heat and smoke. We would try to save him, but I wasn't at all sure that we could. Finally, I realized that while Odin was unable to bring himself to act strongly egainst or to harm Frijjo, he was perfectly willing to allow another to kill her. He hadn't tried to stop Boldgog. He wasn't rushing to tend to her or to rush back to his laboratory for the potion which might save her. She was correct that he had abandoned her, but I was convinced that the moment of abandonment had come in the last five minutes.

Trying to save Frijo would fall to Hermione and me. Of course Hermione had saved some of the potion Frijjo had brewed when Aagog bit her in what seemed another lifetime ago. Hermione handed me the bottle and went to help Boldgog.

Frijjo was just conscious enough to drink from the bottle I pressed to her lips. I flowed some magical energy into her. Yggdrasil encouraged me to do this.

**I prefer that as many as possible live. I don't want any to die until I at least understand what is happening and whether anyone is too evil to live, rather than just too foolish and resentful to be a good citizen at the moment. I am also helping Hermione. This space is the best charging oval you could find. I apologize, reading your mind became a necessity.**

"Now you're actually trying to save me," Frijjo's hoarse whisper was too flat to convey what must have been a combination of astonishment and bafflement at my continuing sentimentality. "Release my arms so I can at least die in relative comfort."

"Not a chance. I don't trust what you will do."

I continued to pour magic into Frijjo. Before Boldgog bit her, I had reached the decision that I could not help her rule Vanaheimr. I also could not just let her die. After a few minutes I realized that Odin was helping me. I left Frijjo to Odin and walked across the room to help Cissy tend to the female spider whom Boldgog had guided to safety. She was in amazingly good condition. The male was beyond saving. I used the same pain-blocking spell we had used on Fang. This brave spider apparently had used his body to shield the female from the worst of the heat. Not knowing how to treat a female Acromantula, I took my best guess and used the potion and lotion we had used on Fang. Hermione had brought that in her carry-all bag. I simply did an 'Accio' to retrieve them. I knew, without ever being told, that they would be there. I still had some water left and I urged the spider to drink some. I used a cooling spell. I poured magical energy into her. I think this all helped.

Baalak's spirit had returned to her body. She thanked both Boldgog and the male spider for saving the female. She learned that the male spider's name was Brrrlo. "You will be remembered in the annals of our people among our greatest heroes. You sacrificed yourself to save an egg-carrying female, so that our people may survive. I show you proof that our people survive on another future world. He urged Aagog and the other adult spider, Analog, to come forward and thank Brrrlo for their and their people's existence. Again, thank you Brrrlo. Your name will be remembered. It's time for you to go." Turning to me she said "I sense that you have a curse, which will relieve Brrrlo of his suffering. I will try to guide his spirit to freedom, then you must act for Brrrlo's own good. It is good that you stopped his pain."

Baalak hovered over Brrrlo's body for hours. We all wished to maintain a respectful near-silence. We continued to attempt to heal Boldgog and the injured female. Aagog and Analog spun a strong cloth of fine spider silk, with which to wrap the rescued female spider. We still didn't know her name.

Baalak tapped me on my left shoulder, with one of her legs. "It is time for Brrrlo to die. I have freed his spirit. It will live on the road of time. Do what you must. Please. Do it in kindness.

"Off! 'Avada Kedavral.

I led a Light Guardian service for the dead. Not just for Brrrlo, but for all of the Acromantula, and also Aesir, who died on this day. I sensed the presence of the spirit of Brrrio and added a service for the freed spirit.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16 – What Went Wrong?**

Frijjo was not looking good at all. Hermione had a little of the potion left. Working together, she and I, with an assist from Yggdrasil, visualised the location of her stomach and sort of 'Apparated' the potion there. Of course, it wasn't a normal Apparate. It called upon lore deep in Yggdrasil's memory. We had no idea if this approach would work. We couldn't really tell if a liquid versus Frijjo splinch of sorts had taken place. It was encouraging that she wasn't throwing up blood in the hour after we did what we did. Odin had thought this approach safer than pouring it down her throat while she was unconscious. It was Yggdrasil who first suggested this approach. As I read back over these last sentences, I seem to be frantically shifting blame for what happens next. I fear that what happens next is that Frijjo dies.

Odin placed Hermione in charge of Frijjo and Cissy in charge of Boldgog. He declared that we must figure out how we managed to march from his property in our time to his property perhaps ten-thousand years earlier. He and Baalak must see everything in order to understand how the events of the past not-much-more-than-twenty-four hours could possibly have unfolded. Barb and I would lead the way back to seid-space. Blacky and Aagog, plus one of Odin's ravens, would lead us back to our time, examining key turnings along the way. Yes, if Britain must be represented, Colonel Cholmondeley could certainly come with us. I led Odin from Yggdrasil to the lake shore and along the shore to the waterfall. We were on the narrow shore. I mentioned that the shore was less deep and the cavern less everything, than what I knew from our time.

"Yes, yes we are standing in a very long time ago. This was just the second time in my life that I stood in the presence of an Yggdrasil who did not know me. I've known Yggdrasil a very long time. But we must keep moving. I'll Apparate us to the other shore."

We arrived very smoothly, and I immediately led Odin to what was left of the phoney wall we had partially erased to gain entry to the Yggdrasil cavern. We had to erase the remainder of the barrier for Baalak to fit through the entrance. I experimented scratching away at the barrier with the Vanir pendant. It worked. I next scratched at the barrier with my knife. This did not work.

Having observed the barrier from both sides, Odin concluded "This barrier is very old. It could well have been created by the Aesir Gods who formed the Light Guardian. It is clear to me that Frijjo never entered the cavern by this route."

Aagog sniffed at what was left of the false barrier and confirmed that Odin was correct. That made little sense. Why would Frijjo and possibly Gna find this side path, follow it to an unlikely nowhere, and then take the effort to block the entrance from the travel ribbon, even disquising that woven barrier as ancient? They would only go to that effort if they thought this side ribbon to be important.

We walked to the end of the narrow tunnel and turned left. We stopped at the loose-woven barrier so that Odin and Baalak could examine the knots and Odin could try to make sense of the metal sign. Rather than chat with them as they conducted their investigation, I chose to sit and consume the remainder of my water and food. I still had one of Frijjo's thick sandwiches, stuffed with the meat from some strange fowl, possibly a fowl from Vanaheimr. Thinking Baalak needed refueling more than I did, I passed her the sandwich. I felt a wordless thank you and the sandwich was consumed - poof!

"The writing is before my time - very, very old." Odin assured me, declaring my translation to be as correct as was feasible. He wanted to examine the metals back at his lab and popped the sign into his backpack. We continued to walk along this side-branch of ribbon, when Odin called a halt and examined the weaving of the tube through which we walked. He pointed at several individual knots, thinking to Baalak "I've never seen a technique quite like this. It seems very old. I wished I had a more subtle light to get a better read on the exact shade of beige."

I passed a slime lamp to Odin. He extracted a knife from his pocket, severing the weave within one very tight knot. He examined the weave, thread-by-thread, inside to out. He thought something to Baalak, which I failed to catch. I know that Baalak agreed. Baalak repaired the cut in the weave. It took a tight surrounding weave of spider silk to envelop the knot, which had been cut.

"These knots were woven by we Acromantula," Baalak told me. "An adult could not create such a fine weave. Even your Aagog is almost too big."

Aagog left my shoulders to climb the tube. She asked me to cut a second knot. Odin nodded approval, so I did as requested. As I was starting to cut, I received a further instruction from Aagog to only cut halfway through the knot. I hastily stayed my hand. I held the slime lamp as Aagog examined strand-by-strand, including the uncut strands. She took a lot longer than Baalak had and Odin looked impatient.

"Definitely my people. Three work together. One smaller than me, two larger. I can see how they do this. It is old. No smell even inside knot."

Baalak agreed. With such tightly woven knots crammed together, she should be able to get a whiff of her kind hundreds of years after the knot was woven. Within two hundred years she could identify the weaver. Interesting to know, but not a help with our problem. We pressed onward, walking without a break back to the main travel ribbon.

Odin took one close look at the weaving which closed off this side ribbon and cursed. "This is the combined work of Frijjo and Gna. Neither was a good enough mimic of the other's style to obscure that conclusion. That is just an obvious big lie Frijjo tells to blame all on the dead. Ginny is correct, this weaving is very new. I put it at one to ten of Ginny's years."

Both Baalak and Aagog demanded that I cut two more of the tighter, more closely packed knots. They were so excited that, despite Odin's clear impatience, I did as they wished. The spiders climbed atop their knots. I saw Aagog examining thread-by-thread. Baalak was too big for me to even guess what was happening beneath her huge belly. Baalak declared "Frijjo, the murderer." Aagog agreed on both counts.

We turned onto the main ribbon and hiked back toward our time. After perhaps half an hour of walking, it was I who called a halt. I noticed moving pictures and wanted to get a closer look to try and place where we were in time. I saw people and fields and forest, but no buildings. I requested help from Odin.

"Sorry, I recognize none of those people. They dress like ancient Aesir are said to have dressed. That's all I can tell you. Well, the landscape could well be Asgard. Since that's where we expect to be, that isn't surprising."

I delayed the group by scanning quite a few more pictures. Success! I spotted the familiar well. Odin agreed it looked like his well. He told me he didn't believe I could learn anything of value here, so could we please just move on. We might find something that required urgent action. At the least, he needed to better understand how and why Frijjo had done what she had done.

We marched onward. I repeated my old trick of dashing ahead to give myself time to scan a series of pictures, then sprinting ahead again to scan another set. I was on my sixth grouping of pictures and feeling quite winded, when the others again drew level with me. "Please," I begged. "This is tiring. Could you look at these and see if you recognise anybody? Here are two men and a woman and the well. Surely, we have passed by a lot of years, since you last studied the faces in the photos.

Odin took pity on my condition. He shared his water with me as he looked at the picture I had pointed at. "Yes, of course I know them. They're younger than when I knew them, but the one in the center is old Mimir. He was Yggdrasil's favorite, until I came along, although he never Quested for Yggdrasil as I did. Frijjo's actual older brother Freyr led an army to Asgard. Mimir died in that fight. That's the reason I invaded Vanaheimer. Their aggression was not to be tolerated. The woman is my mother. I don't recognise the other man."

"How long ago was this?"

"I don't know. At least hundreds of your years older than I am. Perhaps a thousand. My mother lived a long time. Mim looked after her. Now, are you able to continue our march?"

Of course, I was! What was so awful about learning what I could along the way. I continued to sprint ahead and study the photos. On my next sprint ahead, I saw that we'd come to the pointy end of a V branching - two possible paths onto the ribbon we had just travelled. The point of the V was laden with pictures. I saw Odin, and Vili, and Frijjo, and I assumed the fourth person must be Ve. I recognised the setting as the bridge by which I had entered Valaskjalf after dumping what I thought was Odin's comatose body at the entrance to a nearly airless world. This was earlier; Ve was long gone when I first met Frijjo and Vili. As Odin and the others stopped before the two possible paths, I called out to him "I've finally found you, and Frijjo, and both of your brothers."

"Yes, I recognize us, but I sense that we must move very quickly. We must explore both paths."

"But we must start by the path Frijjo used. Which way Aagog?"

Aagog scurried off along the left fork. It was a strange path. It started as a normal, level ribbon, but after about a hundred feet it started a slow drop. That isn't unusual by itself, but the declination continued as far as I could see, even after we had walked several hundred feet. Odin also must have sensed a strangeness, because he stopped us and joined Baalak in examining the loose framework of webbing which rose around the ribbon. They examined the ribbon, itself. While they continued their examination, Aagog climbed me and requested that I cut the knot immediately next to my left shoulder. I did as she asked.

"Gna!" Aagog told me.

I announced this conclusion to Odin and Baalak. They seemed unsurprised. "It's Vanir-style weaving," Odin explained.

We continued along the ribbon for many thousands of feet. We had gone as far as the distance up or down which I associated with moving between worlds. I realised the other part of what seemed odd. We had gone from a region modern enough that the pictures remained alive. Here there were no pictures. This ribbon had witnessed no history. After walking another thousand feet, I saw that we were approaching the end of our ribbon. There wasn't a wall or a barrier. I saw just empty space ahead of us. As I approached the empty space, I saw that we were coming to a tee. Our ribbon ended in the widest ribbon I had ever seen. It was also a very bright purple. This was a new ribbon color for me. Apparently also for Odin.

"Yggdrasil told me of this, but my eyes have never seen it. Yggdrasil called it God-ribbon. They are very rare, and they are said to link the worlds. Gna must have found one. We must be extremely careful. These ribbons are said to move one very far, very fast, in either time or space. We must follow Aagog and go no farther than she tells us that you traveled with Frijjo. This ribbon must be explored thoroughly, but it will take many precautions and ravens to do so safely."

"Which God made or owned this ribbon."

"I don't know. Maybe no God and that's just the name given this sort of ribbon in myth, because it is so rare and extraordinary. My people do tend to regard anyone or anything that could make such a thing as a God or Goddess. The proof of Godliness lies in what one can accomplish."

Aagog took the right turning. She walked not much short of a thousand feet and stopped. Her excited message echoed in my head: "We stop here! Our trail end!".

Frijjo had Apparated us to the ribbon, when we began our training exercise. Night served her purpose well. I saw Odin turn away and walk back to the tee, where Baalak was carefully examining the end of the branch by which we had arrived. This piqued my curiosity and I examined the opposite wall of the branch by which we had arrived at this spot. Our branch had once been tightly woven shut. That was obvious from the collar of frayed remnants of sliced-through knots. Aagog sniffed at the threads of one frayed knot. she grasped two adjacent fibers with two legs each and pulled. She sniffed again. "Frijjo and Gna."

"Frijjo plays at very deadly games," Odin spat after he said this. He seemed to gather himself and a renewed mental strength as he made a hand motion suggesting an impatience to just get on with our return home.

We returned to the spot where Aagog indicated Frijjo had apparated to the God-ribbon. Odin felt confident that he could Apparate back to his lands or at least to Yggdrasil in our time. He had Apparated to this spot, with help from Aagog and Blacky, when he led the rescue party.

"Wait. If this spot is in our time, wouldn't it be safer to try to contact Yggdrasil from here and ask it to suck us all into its library?" Odin wore a wounded look as if I had challenged his ability. I thought it likely that he could do as he claimed, but still believed my way to be safer.

Odin ordered me to fix my exact spot in my mind and to be most careful and exact about creating that mental marker. I did so, then I reached for Yggdrasil. It took three tries. I asked it when it was. It was the first day I had met it, before I had hung. Odin and I both explained our unusual circumstances. Yggrasil directed us to pack together as closely as we possibly could. We held hands and were in the library. It was a most odd Yggdrasil-Apparate. We arrived as a very askew oval, with some of us just missing a floor-splinch, while Odin barely avoided a ceiling splinch. I felt more of a strange tingle progressing through my body than I had ever felt when Apparating.

**Sorry. You were expanded and a bit dispersed in time. I did the best I could.**

"We have to get the others out of that place quickly, but first I need to contact Harry," I begged Odin's permission.

"Talk to your Harry. You have time. We must plan and decide what supplies to bring with us. We cannot rescue the others now. The wounded would never survive the Apparate we just made. You talk to Harry, then we eat, then we plan. In a week we rescue our friends."

I reached for Yggdrasil to contact Harry. Yggdrasil forbade it. We were months prior to the time I returned to Asgard and Frijjo whisked us off to the distant past. Our party must be isolated, lest a time breach occur. Yes, many, including some of us, had shared time with our former selves, but it was a risky thing to do and for an extended time was extremely dangerous. To leave a marker-out-of-time, such as an update call to Harry describing events which happened after I returned to Asgard, and which Harry would receive before I returned to Asgard was stupid. Would Harry change history by forbidding me to return to new dangers.

"Odin!"


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17 – What Does Yggdrasil Know and What Will It Tell?**

"What?"

"We are a couple months back in time and Yggdrasil says I can't contact Harry without causing a dangerous time tangle, but I want to report to Harry, in case something awful happens to all of us. Also, we need to carry a lot of supplies back to Hermione, or the injured will die of their injuries and the rest will starve. I know that is what we must do, but I don't want Harry not to know what we discovered or to think I forgot to contact him."

"You can tell Yggdrasil what you want to tell Harry. It will remember and deliver the message at the proper time. Then we must eat to build our strength, think what to do, and then we can travel back in time to the others."

That made sense. I left a long message for Harry, telling him what I knew, what directions my speculation traveled in, and how much I loved and missed him. Yggdrasil confessed to some blank, or at least hazy, spots in its ancient memories. It was very interested in my tale, although it feared that just my telling might tamper with its own history. Still, Yggdrasil was disturbed enough to give me a list of questions to ask of its earlier self. Yggdrasil messaged all of those in Valaskjalf that they needed to move to Valhalla for a few days. He wouldn't tell us who was in residence.

We Apparated to Odin's Valaskjalf dining room. His Elves had a sumptuous dinner on the table almost as soon as we could arrive. There were a half dozen choices of everything: salad, soup, entrée, vegetables, starch, dessert. I assumed that the excess would make up part of what we transported back in time to our marooned friends. As I, and the others, ate, Odin talked. We had several possible courses of action. He thought we would maintain our knowledge of the God-ribbon and how to reach the Asgard and Yggdrasil of long ago. If this were correct, perhaps we could intercept all the damage, before it happened. He could kill or imprison Frijjo before she led our team way back in time. There was a danger of changing history. We had our new knowledge, that wasn't a change. Many Acromantula and Aesir had perished in the fighting and the fire. It would be difficult to prevent those deaths without changing history. We knew the very limited number of Acromantula who survived. He could do research in his library to identify the Aesir who died in the fighting - at least most of the Aesir. Even if he could identify and find all of them, what was to be done with them?

"Asgard is very short of inhabitants," Odin stated the obvious fact. "Would it actually change history if we somehow could isolate those who should have died and move them to another world, where they and their descendants could live and flourish? Would it change history if those saved Aesir were transported back to Asgard a year from now? The intervening history would be the same, or at least the same as we are able to make it."

"As same as we can make it is not the same as not changing history," I reminded our host. "Frijjo did not cause the deaths of either the Aesir or the Acromantula. She merely brought us back to that time and place so that we would die with them. Even if you imprison Frijjo before she can lead us back, the Aesir and Acromantula will still die, just as they did many thousands of years ago. You'll prevent the injuries to Boldgog and Frijjo. That's it."

"Perhaps we can match history close enough, depending upon how good a job we do. The people who are seen to survive must stay virtually the same as happened. The forest must burn. Asgard must experience the pollution and abnormal cold caused by those fires. Perhaps history will correct itself and the pollution and the cold will kill those who should have died, but we failed to remove."

"Okay, where can you take them. Is there a suitable empty planet which you have the ability to transport them to?"

"I don't know, that's the subject for more research. I certainly know that there are planets which were populated but lost at least their Aesir-derived population. I think the necessary transport ability still exists. I can ask Yggdrasil to work on that. We also need a planet to which we can ship the spiders."

"Okay, that sounds barely possible, but at the risk of a major disruption of history."

"What Frijjo has done in seid-space has probably changed history more. We may still pay the price for her adventuring."

"What other options have you considered?'

"The most straight-forward is to simply return to the past, feed our friends, wait for them to heal, and then return to our time. The dead stay dead. There are two twists on this. We can allow Frijjo to be free, assuming she survives, or we can imprison her or kill her. There are many dangers if she goes free. She has far too many dangerous secrets. She has already tried to murder you - more than once, as you have told me. Given all she has done, I can't believe she plans a peaceful Vanaheimer. I fear that she will try to invade one or both of our worlds. It seems silly to place her in power and increase magic on Vanaheimer. If we don't imprison or kill her, before she leads you to the past, it is also possible that when we return to that past, we find that she has overwhelmed and killed our friends. She is far more devious and nastier than I thought. She frightens me."

"Is it possible to reliably Confund and Imperius a Vanir Goddess, or do you have a method of doing the same thing. We could learn what her other secrets are, including who her allies on Vanaheimr are and what she plans for her world and ours. We could then act appropriately based upon what we learn."

"Yes, we could do that. Yggdrasil and I have the necessary abilities. There is danger in this approach. Her allies may learn of her altered mental state and reverse it. Then we have a totally free and very angry Frijjo."

"I think she must have been very angry already, in order to do all that she has done."

We talked some more. We decided the safest approach was to go back quickly and in force. That gave Frijjo the least chance to cause trouble and our friends would have to spend the least time without more medical supplies or more food than Frijjo had brought just for herself. Once that was taken care of, we could return a second time and try to prevent the carnage, provided our joint research found a way.

We packed up the left-over food, plus a lot more. Odin brought four ravens, both wolves, and four Elves with him. Captain Davies and I had ravens. I brought two more Acromantula. Baalak was cheered to see the additional spiders. We returned to Yggdrasil, stood in a tight bunch as it demanded, and found ourselves on the purple ribbon. We knew where we were going, and we moved fast. Odin left a raven at the point where we left the purple ribbon and a second at the point where the narrow path to the Yggdrasil cavern split off. I expected to follow that path, but Odin chose to exit the travel ribbon at the point where Frijjo had evicted us into the dark forest. "I have to see, or at least see through my birds' eyes, how bad the damage is. I know there was a lot of carnage, but I need to view it. I need to commit the faces of the dead to memory; in case we can save them. I request that you do the same."

We stepped off the ribbon. The air stunk and there was ash under foot. It still held some of its heat. It was necessary to be very careful where we stood or planted our feet, if we walked at all. I knew the direction to the well. Odin led us in the opposite direction. His wolves were complaining; they absolutely hated walking on the ash. I suggested that we halt and try to fashion cloth slippers and tie them to their feet, less they develop burn blisters. Odin thought this an excellent idea. It only took twenty minutes, with many of us working on the project. One wolf allowed me to grab its legs and tie cloth-lined soft leather to them.

Apparently, the approaches to the well were a locus of intense fighting. We passed many dead bodies, Aesir and Acromantula, before we covered the four hundred feet between where we left the ribbon and the point where the forest had ended. Now it was all ash. I had seen the well behind us. With no trees or bushes to hide it, the well was quite prominent. Some camouflage might be in order. Perhaps a mound of soil and ash. I walked past dozens of bodies, all too burned to identify. The demarcation between former grassland and former forest was marked by an arc of bodies. I had spotted several dozen bodies as I walked through the burnt forest. At the demarcation line, looking in both directions, I lost count of bodies, as I passed two hundred. They were split equally between Aesir and spiders. The faces of some of the Aesir bore recognizable features. I tried to commit these to memory, so that I would be able to Witch paint them later. I knew Odin would want that. But... there were greater needs he was ignoring.

"We must check in on our allies and give them our supplies. You can try to identify the dead, after we know our friends are alright. They can also tell us how much time has passed."

"I can tell than from the state of the forest. The fire burnt this area between three and four days ago. We left half a day after the fire started. I agree with you, we must check on our friends."

We contacted Yggdrasil and Apparated into an expanded parlour. The first thing I noticed was that Frijjo was propped up against a wall with a blood-soaked bandage wrapped around her eyes. "What happened?" I asked Hermione, pointing at Frijjo.

Frijjo tried to attack us; Fawkes happened to her. She hit me with pain worse than the Cruciatus and nearly killed the wounded female spider. I both 'Off!'ed her and treated her. For now, she effectively has no eyes. Fawkes got them both."

"Please wake her. Release your spell. I will protect you, although I think her harmless at present. I must speak to her. I must understand."

Hermione did as Odin requested. Frijjo jumped alert and almost fell over. Captain Davies caught her and propped her against the walls in one corner of the room. I saw that the gloves and the goop remained in place.

"Why, Frijjo? Why did you try to kill the Questers I sent to help you?"

"You are soft, because you plan to leave us. They weren't going to be much help to me, or my people and they sought our secrets. You are foolish to trust them. I'm sure you have just seen, close and smelly, the problems the spiders caused for your people. You plan to leave us, so you don't care anymore. You invited the spiders into your world and into seid-space. That all but destroys me. These are the suppliers of the lethal spiders. These are the ones who would bar me from seid space. I had one last trick that Gna left me. I could go to the deep past. There weren't spiders there yet, at least not spiders who would exist after the fire. They were out of ancient seid-space for the briefest time, when the fighting broke out before the fire picked up. This was the one point in time to make my stand. To save all your worlds - worlds which will be my responsibility when you leave. But you chose Ginny over me. you made me do this."

"Ginny saved your life."

"After she destroyed my future. Look at me! What is the point of being alive now?"

"I can repair your eyes."

"But I won't be allowed in this part of seid-space, just as I am barred from our own time in seid-space. This is how I fight. You removed my weapon. You and Ginny have removed my allies. Gna was impossible to control, but she helped me. She gave me this last chance."

"Well, luckily for the rest of us, you wasted your last chance in a failed attempt to kill Ginny."

Hermione grabbed Frijjo's head, dug fingers into her cheeks to force her jaws apart, and poured half a bottle, at least three or four doses, of spiked Veritaserum down her throat."

"That hurt. You dare to harm a Goddess."

"You used a pain curse upon me. Part of me wants to hurt you a whole lot more, but I'm a Light Guardian priestess."

We didn't learn a lot. She genuinely did not know the location of a possible entrance to seid-space on Vanaheimer. The normal entry point on any world was via its Black Stone. That was her understanding of royal Vanir legends. If an alternative route existed, it must be in the Village Vana. That was where the other great magical circle had been. Yes, she now had one spot to which she believed she could Apparate into seid-space. We had done the same.

She gave the names of a half dozen key allies. We already knew half of them. The key information was that her chief aide was a minor Goddess named Mar Lev. She had prevented us from meeting her, while we worked on Vanaheimer. The pathetic count of supporters she had told us about earlier was correct. She hadn't walked into Yggdrasil from the side ribbon she had woven the barrier across. She thought it simply the spot from which to Apparate to Yggdrasil in order to avoid the spiders of the forest. She had done so once, but there were spiders in the cavern, and she had hastily departed. She had travelled the purple ribbon far enough to find another purple ribbon which led to other worlds. She had visited Venera. It was where the dark Gods had come from. She hadn't known how they had traveled to Vanaheimer, but then she learned that Gna had discovered a transporter on the lowest level of the White Column chamber. Miomor had found and transported the dark Gods who had attacked us. The Questers couldn't be allowed to find the transporter. It was broken but might be fixed.

She was convinced that we would never help her, if we found the transporter. She feared we would never show her the respect she was due as the second-ranked God or Goddess on Odin's worlds. Odin would leave us in noncorporeal form quite soon. Then, by right, she should be the primary deity. That was the natural state of the universe. Frijjo had not sided with the dark Gods. Miomor truly was an opponent, if not the bitter enemy she claimed. The inhabitants of Village Vana really did hate her. She really did wish to help her people and was willing to limit her rule to a few years, if that's what the Vanir wanted. She had no plans to invade Terra "at least for the immediate future, certainly not during your or your children's lifetimes, even with the life extension I know you already practice." She didn't think of it as invading Asgard. She would have waited for Odin to leave and then taken control. Who else could do it? The Aesir were both few and largely inbred dolts who killed each other off in family feuds. The spiders put an end to her plan. They barred her meaningful presence on Asgard. Perhaps Odin could control them. She could not. The only value of an Asgard without Odin was as an access to Yggdrasil and seid-space. The spiders would prevent that. She was terrified of the spiders. She knew she had failed in her mission to establish herself and her fellow Vanir in their proper position. It had been her plan to be a very kind and understanding ruler. She would improve the worlds. She thought she deserved that chance. Damn us and the spiders

"I don't need your pity. I don't need you to repair my eyes. It's over. I'd just as soon die. Why don't you just kill me.?"

Boldgog approached to do exactly that. "Please, don't. It shouldn't end like this," I beseeched her. "Nobody should voluntarily die with a mind possibly addled by Veritaserum. There may be a way forward, which is acceptable to all, although I agree that way should not include her unsupervised presence in seid-space or her ability to destroy your people."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18 – Is There A Plan Forward?**

"I understand that both of you thinking I already have one foot out of Asgard doesn't help the situation in general or your ability to work together in particular. I'm willing to stay a few more years, if that will improve the transition. After thousands of years, a few more hardly matter. I'm also still learning. The encounter with the dark God's has given me pause about going solo into space as a being of magical energy. I must talk with the Light Guardian."

"You favour Ginny. I need her Questers to help me fight the battle for a just government of the Vanir."

"You insist that she and her people install you in power. I do not favour Ginny. I have done nothing to make her the ruler of her people. Both of your people must choose their own leaders. If I choose, your people will revolt against my choice. If Ginny becomes your army, your people will not accept you and will kill both of you. You ask too much. You must win the support of your people. There is no other way. I won the support of my people long ago. I didn't win it as their God. I wasn't a God then. I won their support as a warrior-leader whom they trusted to treat them fairly and not selfishly advance only my own interests. I know it is harder for you, since you've been away from Vanaheimer for so long. That can't be helped. There are no shortcuts. You should be able to use your Godly powers to identify friend and foe and to prevail in skirmishes. You got those Godly skills through me and the opportunities I gave you to learn and grow. I have been far more loyal to you than you have to me. You have no complaints."

I expected an angry rejoinder, but Frijjo was silent. Perhaps she didn't trust her mind on Hermione's spiked Veritaserum.

Odin was reassuring Boldgog that the Acromantula were safe and under his protection. He and the other spiders were welcome to re-establish a colony in this time and protect the ancient seid-space.

"I listen. You only be here several years. Then she kill us."

"I'm willing to stay a little longer if that is necessary. Does that help?"

Apparently, it didn't help a lot. It also didn't please Frijjo. "So, I am to be barred from this portion of seid-space. You aren't helping me at all. You owe me for sort-of ruining my Quest and life, by almost kidnapping and raping me, when I was barely more than a young, kind-of innocent girl."

It can be iffy translating Vanir to English, but I think I faithfully captured the flavour of what she said. She clearly hadn't fully recovered her ability to lie. Equally clearly, the version Odin told me of this tale was the more accurate one. Odin again protested his innocence.

"I fully adhered to Quest rules. I returned to my bed after dinner and found you in it. That made you fair game. Be honest, you were desperate to avoid marriage to an ineffectual old king, whom your brother sought to over-throw. All the claims of wrongly capturing and bedding you were part of Freyr's plot - the real Freyr. You were a schemer from the day I met you. Admittedly an extremely beautiful schemer, but not in the least bit innocent or honest. You weren't a Goddess, you weren't greatly respected by your people - Freyr finagled you into leading the Quest, and you never intended to return to Vanaheimer after the Quest. Freyr didn't want you there. You had to be not the widowed queen, but a martyr. It would have suited your brother's purpose best if you were dead. I can tell by the way you spoke that you recognise all of this as truth. I made you what you are today."

"Yes, you made me, faults and all. And now you are in the process of walking away, leaving me with no good landing spot and no way to properly use my talents. What do you expect me to be when you are gone? It's nice that you want me to live, but I can't be anything approaching my best self if I can't study and work in seid-space. That is my strongest skill. The only one at which I am demonstrably better than you. I feel freest when poking around in seid-space."

"I certainly would not deprive you of the ability to visit seid-space. I want you to be happy. We all can benefit from your skill. Ginny and I both have lots of spots in seid-space that we want to investigate. I'm sure you've seen many of them and that some are new to you. You are welcome to join us. It should be a great adventure, as Cissy says. You just won't be allowed to enter seid-space without an escort, a rather large escort. I am not a complete fool. I know you have conspired against me and those under my protection. You will work toward agreed, common goals in seid-space, and we will all thank you for putting your skills to good use."

"It's hardly the same sense of freedom in a group and having to get pre-approval for what I do."

"Too bad, it's your own actions which prevent that freedom. I have others I am responsible for protecting. I will protect them as well as you."

"I might just prefer to die."

"You no longer appear to be under the influence of Veritaserum, so I, and I'm sure Ginny, will agree that you have the right to make that decision. Boldgog here remains willing to assist you, I'm sure."

I did not get a mental message from Boldgog, but all eight of her legs drummed excitedly on the stone floor.

"Would you like me to heal your eyes, while you think?"

Frijjo's sightless eyes stared at Boldgog. That likely gave her better sound directionality if she had to strike out to defend herself. "Yes, please repair them. I'll need them if I decide I want to live on your terms."

"It is important that you be completely still. This is very delicate healing. You must be completely flat. Then either Ginny can use her knock out spell on you or I can magically bind your head in place on the floor. What I must do is going to take close to an hour. Then you will need to be very still for several days, while Yggdrasil promotes your healing. I will have just about ten more minutes of work on you after that, followed by another day of healing, then you should be almost as good as new. You will have to stay away from bright light for about a week. Do you understand that."

"Yes, I know eyes aren't easy. I want to go ahead. I lean toward Ginny's curse, but fear nobody will remove it."

"I wouldn't do that," I protested. "Besides, the reason this is not an Unforgiveable Curse is that it wears off within a day, even if I don't remove it. That's a part of our law. Otherwise you could use the curse in a way that the victim just starved to death. That would make it a killing curse."

"That's what I choose. Although you contradict yourself. Your 'Kill!' is both legal and a killing curse. I also fear that you and Odin will go exploring in seid-space while I am incapacitated."

"I don't know about Odin, but I do intend to do that. We need to learn as much as we can as fast as we can."

"What if you make a very serious error which I could have prevented? Small errors this far in the past can devastate our time."

"I'm willing to promise not to make any edits, unless we find something that is such an immediate danger that it can't wait."

"There is something which you may find, which might look immediately dangerous, but really isn't. Changes could be dangerous, without my help. I promise it's safe for at least a month."

"We'll bear that warning in mind. Where is this spot?"

Frijjo was silent for too long, if her goal was to be helpful. She finally gave us directions to the spot and told us what we would find there."

"Who will care for me while you're gone, and will I at least be awake."

"I promise to wake you before we go."

"I will stay and care for you," Odin explained that this was his duty.

"No! Cho or Hermione will care for me. Hermione and Ginny are not as adept at seid as they think they are. They will mis-read the situation and make an error. You must go with Ginny."

Odin agreed. I applied the "Off!" Odih worked quite diligently, expertly, and with a loving touch on Frijjo's eyes.

Odin pronounced his efforts to heal Frijjo "most successful". I woke her. She seemed a little surprised by both of our actions. It seemed that she expected to be killed and had wanted to be "Off!" when that happened. Her mood gradually brightened. Not for long.

As I gathered our team for exploration of seid-space and Odin and we packed everything we thought we would need, Frijjo's mood dimmed considerably. "Please don't think too badly of me. We each have our dark fears."

That's all she said, but it increased my certainty that what we found in seid-space would be bad.

Our traveling party was Odin, me, Boldgog, Aagog, Captain Davies, Barb, and Cissy. We took the route through the cavern and the narrow pathway back to the main travel ribbon. From there we had to walk only several hundred feet. There was a lot of weaving in this area. What looked to be the obvious main path was woven shut. That seemed the obvious place to start. We decided to just cut the weaving at the right edge and bottom. That would be easy to repair yet let us all pass through. Aagog and Boldgog agreed that the smell attached to the knots was "Frijjo. She do this. We must see what she change."

There actually were a few of the moving pictures along this section of ribbon. There were two groups of pictures within a hundred feet of Frijjo's weaving. The first section we reached showed the forest afire. Small groups of Aesir were lighting the fire. A picture showed Acromantula fleeing down the well.

"That's different," I pointed Odin to that picture. "Some of the spiders escape in this version. I think there also are fewer fire starters," I pointed at the first picture I had found, "and it's very clear to me that they just lit the fire from blazing torches they carried. I see no evidence of Fiendfyre."

Odin agreed with me. He urged me forward, as if he needed to know all the changes immediately.

The second group of pictures showed Aesir and Acromantula quarreling, but with violence limited to swords and Aesir being shoved to the ground. A few Acromantula seemed to be short a limb, but I saw no dead.

Odin led us back to the midpoint between the two picture groupings. "The rest of you must stay and guard this spot. Ginny, Aagog, two Elves, two ravens and I will explore."

I matched Odin's boldness as I stepped off the ribbon. Odin lofted his raven toward the treetops. Our Elves were in invisibility mode. We walked toward where the well must be. I realised that the ribbons we were on now and before must just meander around a small section of forest, since the well always seemed to be very close. We had moved in time rather than space. I urged Blacky into the air in the opposite direction to that chosen by Odin's bird. We didn't have to walk far before we encountered two medium-sized Acromantula. I could 'hear' Aagog's mental greeting echo in my head.

**Hello, brothers. I am friend and these humans are friends. We come to learn what is happening here and stop fighting.**

The answer came back from the lead spider.

**They drive us from the ribbons of time. They say 'leave our world, or we kill' - leave now. They say there is new world for us. We are too dangerous."**

I asked Aagog how the Aesir thought they could move to another world. Aagog asked and the answer came back: **Yggdrasil! We have one day.**

Odin told us that he must visit Yggdrasil to learn what he could. We must explore the alternate history weaving which changed the story from moving to another world into one of total carnage. He explained to the two Acromantula the future created by "a bad interloper from another world, who looks like my people, but is not one of us. A vile creature I brought to this world. You must take me to Yggdrasil quickly. I know it in a far future time and tomorrow."

I recalled Blacky. He landed quickly and I read his birds-eye view. He showed me scenes of a forest surrounded by Aesir, but obviously far fewer than must have fought in the battle, where Odin and I saw hundreds of dead Aesir in just a rather narrow wedge of forest and surrounding pasture. I also saw a dozen streams of spiders flowing toward the well.

We walked onto the ribbon. I thought a summary of what we had learned to Boldgog as he led us to the rest of our party. They had followed the narrower path, half of a right turn, from the direction of the path Frijjo had sealed. I saw a group of pictures. It showed a very large number of Aesir mounting a Fiendfyre attack upon the forest. I found the main group of our party two hundred feet farther down the path. They were studying a grouping of pictures. I had passed another grouping without stopping, finally heeding Boldgog's insistent command: **Hurry!**

Cissy pointed at the central picture. Gna and Frijjo stood with a tight knot of perhaps two dozen Aesir. They obviously were instructing them on something. I could guess exactly what magic the Aesir were learning.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19 – Trying To Put Things As Right As Possible**

I tried, without success, to contact Odin or Yggdrasil. I could use their help. We had promised not to make edits to this region of seid-space without consulting Frijjo, but the present situation seemed to constitute the dire emergency escape from that promise. What's more, this was an emergency of Frijjo's own making. I couldn't wait for Odin.

"We need to start weaving this branch shut. I hope Odin concurs when he returns. We'll do as much as we can, while leaving space for Odin, and hopefully Boldgog, to fit through the gap. I want a very tight weave. This alternate future needs to be strangled as quickly as possible."

All sprang to action. Those who couldn't weave, guarded those who did. Captain Davies was as adept a weaver as she claimed to be. Aagog followed behind us, wrapping our weave in spider silk for added strength and tightness. We had finished filling as much of the path as was safe if I wanted Boldgog to squeeze past the barrier with us. She and Odin arrived as we were standing a little away from the barrier to admire our work.

"It is as bad as I feared," Odin gasped. "The war between the ancients of my people and the Acromantula was caused by Frijjo. She is responsible for the deaths of many thousands of my people and the near extinction of the Acromantula. The great fire was never supposed to happen. We must stop this. Common decency and the future of my world and the Acromantula demand our action."

"We promised Frijjo that we wouldn't act without consulting her first. She said that there were intricacies here that I wouldn't understand. That's why she wanted you here - to prevent the fighter side of me from doing something irreversibly stupid. She promised there was a month before any action was needed."

"We promised not to act other than in extremis. Genocide is as extreme as it gets. I think Frijjo is desperate to buy enough time for her plan to work and be frozen into history. I'm convinced she would do something devastating, were we to allow her to come here with us. She is devious and far more capable than I credited. We must leave the ribbon and find that meeting. Don't think me blood-thirsty, there is no alternative. They all must die or be imprisoned forever. There is far too much at stake. The great fire and the carnage of the battle surrounding it didn't only destroy the Acromantula. It was a population and environmental catastrophe for the Aesir and the world Asgard. Asgard has never been the same since the fire. The forest was vital to its health. We have no choice but to act decisively and act at once."

"The Frijjo out there - is it the same as our Frijjo in a prior travel? If we kill this Frijjo, do we kill her in our and all of time?"

"I can't possibly answer that question from just the evidence of the moving pictures. That could be Frijjo in body, Frijjo in spirit, or something like the human horcruxes Voldemort created. We call those 'replicates in time'. They are part spirit, part horcrux, part avatar. If that is what this is, and I find this to be the likeliest explanation, then killing it will not kill our Frijjo. Like destroying Voldemort's horcruxes, it will weaken her and perhaps make her merely mortal. If that is what that thing out there is, then it would be unwise to imprison it, even in suspended form as Ve and Vili still exist. Its very existence, even in barely animate form, would still strengthen our Frijjo. That strong a Frijjo is most dangerous. Trust me. I won't ask you to kill. That is my responsibility. I do need the support and help of all of you. This is what we all must do..."

Odin described a difficult trial-and-error of stepping off the ribbon just slightly beyond the point where the pertinent photo was situation and exploring the area in search of Frijjo and the ancient Aesir with whom she met. We must be stealthy so as not to alert our prey. The ravens would search a wide area and we would stay for eight hours. Then, back to the ribbon to eat, drink, rest, and restart our time off ribbon. We would then leave the ribbon just a little closer to the photo and repeat our search. We must do this again, and again, and again, until we found the conspirators.

I didn't expect to find them on the first try. Odin had chosen a point in time sufficiently far in the past that we were extremely unlikely to miss them by beginning our search in too recent a time. The grasslands fronting the forest were waist tall and there was a profusion of scrubby bushes to hide behind. We had to walk across only twenty feet of forest to reach the grass. Aagog and Boldgog tested the air, before we took our first step. They reported no spiders in the immediate vicinity, although they sensed their presence at a distance. Even without nearby spiders, we traveled carefully through the forest. If the conspirators were nearby on the grassland, we didn't want to alert them to our presence. It would be too simple for them to Apparate to safety. We needed to take them by surprise.

As soon as we reached the grassland and either knelt below the height of the grass or behind a convenient bush, Odin and I released our ravens. Then it was sitting upon a section of grass, crushed by our own bodies. Then lying upon the grass. It was a boring wait, especially on this initial sally, when I was quite certain we would find nothing - so certain that I needed to forcefully kick my senses into alertness more often than I care to admit. It wouldn't do for us to lose concentration and become the ones taken by surprise by Frijjo and her gang.

Boldgog thought it most surprising that Frijjo should choose to meet this close to the forest. That, however is what the picture showed. Odd choice or not, we were in the correct location.

"Likely they are equally afraid of their plot being discovered by the Aesir public. The spiders were feared, but the forest was sacred," Odin informed us. "The Aesir community would never approve the destruction of the forest. In addition to the spiders, the forest sheltered many animals the Aesir relied upon for food. They ate far more meat back in that day. They also built largely of wood. I've sent my raven high and wide. You'll get a far better idea of the true forest when she returns. It is far larger than you imagine. Remember the true history we saw. The Aesir planned to send the Acromantula to another world - not nice, but far different from killing all of them."

I received a sense of disgust from Boldgog, as Odin said that as well as the words: **This is our home, also.**

Time was up. We blew our whistles and collected our birds. Odin placed his raven upon my left shoulder. She had flown high. The forest I could see was immense and it extended beyond the horizon in every direction the bird had looked. I was astounded. I was angry that Frijjo would dare to destroy all of this.

As if sensing my reaction, Odin gave me a geography lesson: "Asgard has but one continent, surrounded on all sides by ocean. Asgard is more continent than ocean. That forest covers half of the continent, all interconnected, without a break. In your time, less than a quarter of the forest has regrown. Frijjo killed a thinking people and drastically changed an entire world, forever. Now do you understand the immensity of her crime?"

I did.

We returned to the ribbon. We ate, we rested, we slept. We awoke, breakfasted, and left the ribbon again, in search of Frijjo. We didn't find her.

We repeated this procedure again, and again, and yet again, with no success. We did a little weaving during down times. Eventually, we left Captain Davies and Boldgog behind to weave. We had been searching for over two days. Odin did not allow us to give up. If anyone's resolve showed signs of flagging, Odin shouted "this is important! Do I need to explain, yet again."? Boldgog supported Odin.

We found them on our eleventh try. We hadn't even left the forest when Aagog declared "I smell Frijjo!"

Odin stopped us to explain "we must be very stealthy. Spread out. It is not good to be bunched together like this. We must sneak toward them and fire curses at the first sign they suspect we are present." He then looked at me and asked, "Do you have your broom?"

I quickly transfigured my hat back into a broom. Odin instructed me to fly through the forest and be prepared to come at Frijjo's party from the side. We launched our ravens from within the forest. They sat hidden on the tallest branches of the trees nearest the grass. Our Elves went into full invisibility mode. Odin ordered them to get behind Frijjo's group. Odin pointed at my pocket watch, telling me "we attack in exactly fifteen minutes, whether they have sensed our presence or not. Come hard and come fast. This is not the time for pacifist thinking. You may use 'Off!' but use it as if your whole personal force is behind every curse. Don't get lost in your thoughts. Don't crash into a tree but watch them often enough that you can attack as soon as they notice us or as soon as we begin our attack. I may not be able to wait the full fifteen minutes, which starts NOW!"

I had already mounted my broom and was hovering beside him. With his emphatic whispered 'NOW!' and a wave of his hand, he sent me cruising through the forest. I was perhaps four rows of trees from the edge of the forest. I thought the trees shielded any possible sight of me, but still stayed low enough that the tall grass and bushes of the grassland also obscured me. I quickly found that this also meant that I could catch no more than a quick, flashing glimpse of Frijjo's party. I flew slowly and very carefully, keeping half of my concentration on the trees in front of me, and other half maintaining a sense of elapsed time, the sounds from the forest and grassland, and any motion from the circle of my enemies standing in the grass.

I saw one of the conspirators turning toward the forest, where Odin and the rest of his party hid. I manoeuvred my way through the four rows of trees and zoomed just at the level of the grass towards Frijjo. I had my wand in my left hand and Frijjo's own anti-Apparition device in my right. My thighs and ankles gripped my broom tightly as I crouched forward along it, so low that only the nose-upward portion of my face were above the ripening grain heads, which kept slapping against my face as I zoomed forward. I was already pointing my wand and firing "Off!" curses. I saw Odin appear in front of Frijjo and her gang. I thumbed the switch of that anti-Apparition device to on and hurled it as far forward as I could. I saw Aesir dropping, then Frijjo fell. It had all happened so fast.

I landed beside Odin, warning our team "don't Apparate. I threw Frijjo's device somewhere in this area."

"That wasn't part of the plan. You could have killed one of us." He complained.

"I didn't turn it on until I saw you had already Apparated," I defensively defended myself. I had been very careful, and I had just warned one and all not to Apparate. I quickly realised why Odin had knocked me back upon my emotional heels, as I saw him pointing his index finger at Frijjo's head.

"Sorry, I know how much you hated it when Frijjo did this. I know it may have been you who dropped her. This must be done, and I must take full responsibility."

Whatever this 'Frijjo' had been, she or it was now dead.

Odin quickly snapped out of that mood, ordering us "we're not finished. These Aesir can live, but they must be Confunded, Imperiused, and disappeared for a time. We must take them back with us and dump them in the grassland a month in the future. There may or may not be a smaller fire; history says there will be, but we can dump them in a space they won't die."

That's what we did. We left them in an "Off!" state. They would come around in about twenty hours. They had no knowledge of Frijjo and a desire to preserve the peace and avoid the death of spiders. Boldgog expressed his satisfaction.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20 – What's Wrong?**

We were back on the ribbon. Odin was urging us to finish weaving shut Frijjo's alternate future, while he and his Elves carried the comatose Aesir prisoners a little into the future. I was about to tell Odin "okay, when I felt an overwhelming sense of dread. It wasn't that Odin had killed 'Frijjo'. I wasn't happy about that but recognised it as necessary.

"Hermione! I have to get back to Hermione," I told Odin. "Follow me, I think the rest need to weave as fast as they can. Aagog, you are with me.

I still was atop my broom and started racing back along the ribbon as fast as I could navigate the turns. Odin followed.

Aagog! She climbed me and sat upon my shoulders. I flew all the way to the Yggdrasil chamber and asked it to suck me into its parlour. I found an excited Frijjo holding the rest of my team captive. Hermione was urging Frijjo not to kill the spiders. As I flew nearer to Frijjo, I urged Aagog to anchor herself to the ceiling behind Frijjo. I felt her weight vanish from my shoulders, just as Frijjo noticed my arrival. I swerved to the right to get more distance from her, keeping my wand pointed at her head.

"I was just telling your pal Hermione that it is necessary for these spiders to die. They. Are. Very. Dangerous. You and Odin are very foolish not to recognise that simple fact. Either that or you have both become too squeamish. I have the courage and resolve to do what must be done to save our worlds. Do you understand how fast these creatures multiply? Do you think they will be content to be exiled to just one world? And you dared to bring spiders to Asgard. The same Asgard which may have to be my future home, if you don't become a lot more helpful on Vanaheimer than you have been thus far.

"Yggdrasil was kind enough to give Hermione this locked magical box, containing a 'secret weapon'. I'd kill you now, but Hermione couldn't open the box, when she thought I remained 'Off!'ed. I haven't opened it either. I think the Odin Stone, which he gave to you rather than me, will open the box. You will open the box for me, or you will watch Hermione die a very painful death. Now, drop your wand."

"I think not. I drop the wand; you kill everyone. Odin follows. You have little time to escape. Do you want the box opened, or not?"

She nodded, 'yes' and demanded "be very quick."

Still on my broom, and with my wand still fixed upon her head, I summoned the stone to my left hand. I drifted over to the box and held the stone next to it. The box opened to reveal... the familiar four purple diamonds - three large, one smaller. I felt Frijjo trying to summon my wand, along with Odin's stone and the four diamonds. I fired a "Kill!" curse at her and urged Aagog to attack. Hermione dove to the side and fired curses.

Frijjo recoiled as Aagog bit her. She dropped two of the diamonds and vanished.

"What happened?"

I turned to see that Odin had arrived. I gave him a very quick explanation, as I picked up the diamonds - one large, one small.

"We must move fast. She will go to Ve's fortress and free him. I have been very stupid to tolerate her betrayals as I have. If she frees Ve, they can do great damage very quickly, especially with my stone and the two diamonds. We must catch her before she nears the fortress, or my own defenses will attack me."

"Maybe not," I assured Odin, as I held up the authentic Odin stone. "She has the bad copy. You were right. It did open the lock box. That convinced Frijjo that it was genuine."

Hermione started to explain how Frijjo had managed to gain the upper hand, while we were killing her horcrux. "Tell your tale while we travel. We must catch her before she enters Ve's world. She must be questioned and then imprisoned. I don't want my defenses to kill her."

We moved back to the ribbon, at least Odin, Hermione, and Baalak, and I did. The rest stayed behind to finish weaving the barrier and to protect ancient Yggdrasil. I told them that we would return as soon as possible. As we walked and flew, Hermione talked. She also rode her broom.

"She was unconscious. We 'Off!'ed her every six hours. That was as often as I thought possible, without risking outright killing her. We woke her every day for a half hour to give her water and food and allow her to relieve herself. All was well until today. Today became strange when Yggdrasil said it had a secret weapon which it thought we needed to have. It said the weapon was from an earlier age of the Aesir/Vanir and a Vanir God had entrusted the box to its care long ago to be used only in a time of great need. Yggdrasil was worried that great need had arrived and gave me the box. It likes the spiders and feared for their survival. It does not like Frijjo.

"I tried to open the box with my Muse ring, but it didn't work. Frijjo must have been listening to all of this, while feigning an inert mind. I don't know how she voided the 'Off!' curse I used, but she obviously did. I had just told Barb that I couldn't open the box when Frijjo just sprung up and attacked us. Several of us cursed her, but it didn't faze her. She did something which made all my limbs go numb. Mamagog was ready to bite her. Frijjo got this strange look on her face. I did a wandless curse, and she almost collapsed. I don't think Mamagog even bit her. She killed Mamagog. Perhaps the fright got her."

"When did this happen?"

I told Hermione that the timing seemed to match when Odin had killed 'horcrux Frijjo', or at least killed 'displaced-in-time Frijjo'.

"Have we underestimated her that seriously?"

"My fault," Odin confessed. "You were suspicious. I kept trying to convince you that she was less capable, less dangerous, and less malevolent than she really was. She's always had great influence on me. She's been my blind spot."

Hermione insisted upon a quick retelling of what we had learned and done in our days away from her. I gave a very detailed account, asking her for specifics about Frijjo's behavior."

"I think she was feigning her condition and spying on all we did. Either 'Off!" never worked on her or she discovered a way to neutralise it. Today Yggdrasil said that it thought your mission was about to take a turn toward the unfortunate side and that it had custody of an artifact, which might be of value. You know the rest."

We were soon at the bright purple ribbon. With just the four of us and knowing how tightly we had to scrunch together, it was easier for Yggdrasil to suck us back to the proper time. We arrived in the library prepared for a fight. Frijjo was not present and Yggdrasil had not seen her.

"We must hurry, but first I must get Ve-world-suits for each of us. Without them, we'd freeze, or explode, or suffocate within a minute. Sorry, I don't have a suit for you. Can you go back and guard the purple ribbon?" Odin asked Baalak. Baalak agreed.

Yggdrasil produced four appropriately sized suits. The suits were light, transparent, and covered our entire bodies like a shroud. Like a magically sealed shroud. The suits were flexible enough that we moved easily in them. The fourth suit was a small sealed sack to hold Aagog.

"Enough playing with the suits. Yggdrasil, transport us!"

There was a gut-churning series of tremors passing through my body, then I was falling three inches to the surface of Ve's world. I could tell that we were very close to the entrance from the pyramid between worlds. Odin led us in what seemed to me to be almost the correct direction. We walked for nearly three hours, before the tower of Ve's fortress came into view. As we halved the distance to the fortress, I saw a dark mound ahead of us, which hadn't been present during our last visit here. We had almost reached the mound, when a voice appeared in my head.

**Welcome, holder of the Stone of Odin. The one you approach tried to invade me with the false stone as her permit. She is dead. As per protocol, the three prisoners have been killed."**

Odin had apparently also heard the message, as he shouted: "No! What have you and I done."?

"When did this happen?" I asked the fortress.

**Two weeks ago. Is that Odin with you. Explain! Now!**

Odin explained.

**I am sorry, my master. I faithfully followed your instructions. Does the one with the Odin Stone carry it with your permission. Is she allowed entry into me?**

"Not your fault. I should have guessed that Frijjo would not approach you in our time. She has tricked me yet again. This time it cost her everything. I am sad but recognise that you have done what I should have done but was unable. Treacherous as she was, she was my best love. And yes, Ginny carries the stone with my permission. She is a more reliable owner than I was. Please follow her instructions."

We walked up to what was left of Frijjo. She was little more than a frozen cinder, burnt beyond recognition by Odin's weapons. We stood and looked away, as Odin wept. He finally lifted the corpse in his arms. "I want to take her to the fortress. I must see my brothers for a last time and properly say goodbye. Don't be embarrassed, I don't mind your watching me. It's a comfort. Please... come with me to the fortress."

The fortress wasn't quite as close as it seemed. It was a two-hour walk. I worried toward the end, suddenly realising that I had no idea how much longer we would be able to breathe inside our suits.

We approached what looked like a major entrance to the fortress. There was a long bridge over a wide mote of some slowly boiling liquid.

"Probably nitrogen," Hermione explained.

"Oxygen," Odin corrected her.

The bridge did not drop us as we walked across. The door was the 'normal' sort of Odin-metal door, which I was used to encountering in pyramid chambers. There was a copper-colored little panel to the right of the door, with a small oval depression. I held the Odin Stone against the depression. The door whisked smoothly open. We were in a large entry hallway. It seemed the perfect site for the fortress's defenders to slaughter invaders, as there was no place to go, except for another metal door twenty feet ahead of us. I heard the rush of air and felt the ballooning of my suit collapse.

"You can safely remove your suits."

We all did as Odin suggested. Hermione placed the suits into her carry bag. I led us to the second door. It opened to the touch of my finger, recognising that I had displayed the stone once. The room beyond was very modernistic and what I recognised as very high technology, but the furnishings were very old-style. The room was almost circular and probably close to two-hundred feet across. There was a large wooden table, with about fifty wooden chairs around it. Tapestries hung from the far wall. All the other walls were transparent. The floor was wood. There were chairs, with soft cushions arrayed along the walls, each with a small table. There were two doors out of the room. A row of a dozen short bookshelves was placed between the doors. They were empty. No, they held perhaps six books. Odin placed what was left of Frijjo on the floor in front of the bookshelves.

"I know you want to examine the books. Humour me. I have a need to rush ahead and grieve. We take the door on the right."

The door opened as we approached within a foot of it. We walked along a transparent corridor to what was obviously a very tall tower. The door to the tower opened to our approach. Our path led right onto a wide circular staircase. The walls were metal, rather than transparent. We had a choice of up or down. Odin led us down. Down two levels, to the bottom, below-ground floor. I counted stairs - a hundred between each of the floors. Looking at the spacing between the stairs, I guessed about sixty feet between floors. There was a metal door four feet ahead. This door required an application of the stone. The door opened to reveal a large cavern with stone walls and floor.

It had the smell of dungeon. The cavern was an oval, a hundred feet long and only about a dozen across and the same dozen tall. There were five metal doors on each side of the cavern and one straight ahead of us. Odin led us to the farthest door on the right, motioning for me to use the stone to open the door. I did so.

Beyond the door was a wood-lined corridor with tapestries spaced along the wall to the left and four doors open to the right and a closed door straight ahead. Lights in the corridor had come on as soon as we had entered. The tapestries were all the same - crimson, with a silver Unicorn in the center. "That is Ve's personal banner," Odin told us as he marched to the first door.

The room was a decent-sized library with table and chairs, bookshelves, and a comfortable, plush reading chair. These shelves were filled with books. Hermione restrained herself from grabbing one, as Odin was clearly searching for a body. We stepped aside and let Odin lead us to the next room. This was a dining facility. The next room held a device on the wall which showed a slowly changing display of pictures, five feet across. I saw Vili, Ve, Odin, Frijjo and a dozen persons I didn't recognise. The device was beginning to show scenery. It was clearly Asgard. The current pictures from before the great fire. The room also contained soft surfaces one could sit or lie upon. Still no body.

The next room was a luxurious bathroom. The floor was covered with fur. Ve's body lay on the floor. He was obviously dead. He looked as though he had been dead for many months, although I knew that wasn't true. He was shriveled like a mummy, but recognisable. He had not been burnt as Frijjo was. I was surprised that the room carried no smell of death. That, in itself, was evidence of very great magic. I was not surprised when Odin lay down on the fur, beside Ve, and wept. The rest of us sat in silence.

"Ve was basically good, but weak. Seid-space was too much for him. He tried being a greater God than the Light Guardian. His mind was lost. I had no choice. He could never be free. I missed him every day of my life."

Odin led us on a perfunctory tour of the rest of Ve's quarters. The last room on the right was a combination kitchen and storage room. The room at the end of the corridor was a very large bedroom. The ceiling was a crystal dome, which showed a false heaven, or possibly the real heavens as they would appear from outside the fortress.

Odin walked us out of Ve's quarters and to the door at the end of the line of cells, as distant as possible from Ve's. I assumed that Vili's quarters were behind this door. At Odin's hand signal I opened the door. We performed the same room-by-room exploration as we had on Ve's side of the corridor. The rooms were identical, with one difference. We did not find a body. We searched room-by-room a second time, being more careful to look inside any space large enough to possibly hold a body. Vili simply wasn't here.

"Now what?" I must have inadvertently spoken aloud, because Odin immediately answered me.

"Now we search this whole damned fortress and ask it some very pointed questions. I considered, and dismissed, the possibility that Ve and his fortress held some secrets, which might permit his escape. I investigated that possibility very thoroughly and installed many of my own protections to thwart any possibility of a nasty surprise. Vili never set foot in this place, before I carried his inert body to his cell. I'm convinced he never knew his brother had built this fortress. How could he possibly escape? This is very bad!"


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21 – Where's Vili?**

Aagog had the smell of Vili fixed in her brain from our tour of his quarters. If he walked away, rather than Apparating, she would track him. As we left Vili's 'aristocratic cell' it was immediately evident that he had simply walked away. Aagog picked up the trail immediately, leading us to the door at the very end of the corridor of cells. I asked her to crawl to the ceiling atop the door and be ready to scurry through when we opened the door. We were prepared for anything as we opened the door.

We were in a guardroom without guards. There were weapons mounted on the wall, bunks for four guards, a round wooden table with four chairs, a big ring of keys, a spyglass, and nobody. Well, nobody right now. Almost as soon as Aagog scurried into the room and dropped from the ceiling, an excited message jolted my mind.

**I smell Frijjo. Vili too.**

I wondered who had died out on the frozen surface of this world. I also wondered how Frijjo had managed to bypass Odin's defences while carrying a stone designed to lead its bearer to destruction, rather than admit them to this fortress.

I headed to the opposite door, but Odin sat in one of the chairs and called us all to the table. "we must think. We shall instruct the fortress to reject Vili and Frijjo and to detain them for us. I must understand how the fortress worked against my purpose. Its intelligence is linked to Yggdrasil. We must ask Yggdrasil's help. I don't see how what has happened is even possible. It is unbelievably dangerous. We learn, we think, we plan. No more wander blindly through fortress, not knowing what is behind door. I know a trap lies ahead. Frijjo and Vili have been allies for many centuries. They are devious. All of this was carefully planned. We have one chance not to die."

Hermione and I were to speak with the fortress, while Odin reached for Yggdrasil He would work through the Black Stone in the pyramid between worlds. He didn't think the relatively minor fortress intelligence could listen in to his conversation. If I occupied its attention, he was very certain of that.

I established contact with the fortress and asked its intelligence "How did Frijjo gain access without the proper stone?"

**The one allowed entry carried the proper stone.**

"I thought you told me that the attempted visitor was killed by your defences and that all of the prisoners were killed"

**The one who came after the visitor with the stone was killed. You saw her body. The three prisoners were killed in their cells. This is the rule, when a false stone approaches me.**

"I've been to Vili's cell. He is not dead. He is somewhere inside this fortress."

**Vili was not a prisoner, when the invader appeared. The visitor with the official stone ordered that he be freed. I freed him. That is the rule.**

"Okay. But then Odin, I, and my friends arrived with the actual official stone. You admitted us to yourself and allowed us to open doors, with and without the stone."

**That is my duty. Once you use the stone to open an important door, you may freely open lesser doors. What would be the point in requiring the stone each time. I do not understand how the one whom you call Frijjo gave the official stone to you. She hasn't left the fortress since she arrived."**

"Odin gave me this stone months ago and he had carried it for many years. It seems there are two different stones which you recognise as official. Odin said that he made only one stone. Yggdrasil made it for Odin. How can there be a second official stone, which Odin does not know exists?"

**I don't know. It is not my place to know. I was taught how to recognise an official stone. I have just checked. You are correct. There are now two official stones inside the fortress. A false stone lies upon the corpse of the invader. That is all I know. You and Frijjo are both my mistresses and I recognise Odin's authority, also.**

"I'm confused. You were built by Ve. You just killed Ve."

**"Ve was a prisoner. The rules required me to kill all the prisoners. Ve and his friends built the physical shell of the fortress. I was made by Odin and Yggdrasil. I am a piece of Yggdrasil.'**

"Did Ve build this fortress without an intelligence?"

**He put a most inferior intelligence in charge. Odin destroyed it and put me in charge.**

"Who were the other two prisoners?"

**Friends of Ve who were brought here with him. I was not told their names.**

Where are Frijjo and Vili right now?"

**Top floor of the tower beyond this room. Be warned, the rule requires that I prevent either group from harming the other. You each carry an authenticated stone. Tell this to Odin. He will try to break that rule and harm Frijjo and Vili. He does not follow rules. That is most dangerous.**

I was surprised. That was a bit more subtle understanding than I expected from this piece of Yggdrasil. I glanced at Odin and saw he had finished talking to Yggdrasil. I thanked the fortress intelligence and told it that we would peacefully visit the others.

I relayed all of this to Odin. I stressed the seriousness of the intelligence's warning not to try to harm Frijjo or Vili. Odin seemed intent upon and eager to do exactly that. I was very curious, but also sought to derail Odin's quest for revenge, by asking: "what did Yggdrasil tell you. Can it gain us complete control of the intelligence?"

"It can, but it is going to take a while. I do understand the warning. I'm willing to calmly talk with them, for now, but we are close to the time for severe action. I left Frijjo and Vili in charge for too much time when I wandered. They had every opportunity to learn most of my secrets, including the stone. There was more than one bad stone. I thought I had them and all knowledge of them very well hidden. I carried the real stone with me, even in spirit form. It is a polished specially **instructed **piece of the White Columns of Vanir, which I destroyed. I kept the broken pieces. They have many uses. The identification stone, the fake stones, and the Stone which is the intelligence are very closely linked - Yggdrasil and I made them at the same time. I have no idea how Frijjo learned of that secret. Yggdrasil swears it did not tell either her or Vili. I believe it. She is clever. She could have studied both the real stone and a copy while I slept. I was not always as safe as I should have been in checking for potions in my wine, when she shared my bed. She is far cleverer than I imagined. Yggdrasil is checking whether or not Frijjo had help from any of its off-spring Stones."

"Thank you for that explanation. Should we visit the intelligence in person, before seeking Frijjo?'

"That is the most desirable approach, but Yggdrasil and the intelligence agree that approach to the intelligence is barred to all, until it and Yggdrasil agree upon who has a right to command it. Meanwhile, the intelligence will host and protect all of us. The fortress grows its own vegetables and there is meat, if you don't want more than fish or fowl. Every spice you could want, from every one of my worlds, grows here. We will neither starve nor be forced to endure awful food. Your purpose is served. I am now calmed. We must go visit Frijjo and Vili. Keep your protective charms at maximum and be ready for anything. The intelligence will do its best to keep us safe, but our foes are devious. Don't assume we are walking into a safe meeting."

There was an elevator. Odin felt the stairs were safer, as they gave more flexibility and didn't trap us inside a little box, poised for a long fall. There were very many stairs and the vertical height between them was larger than is comfortable for me. I felt pooped as we reached one floor below our destination: floor ten. I quietly opened the door to that floor and led us in search of comfortable seats and, hopefully, refreshments. This floor held multiple living quarters. I led us to the apartment in the middle of the floor and plopped into the padded furniture in the very large sitting view. We had a stark starlit view of this dead world, through one wall, which was all transparent crystal. I intended to linger here. I needed a good half hour to regain my strength. I could tell that Hermione needed longer than that.

"You are both so young. I am disappointed in your lack of vigor, compared to ancient Odin."

"I sort of am also, but please, just be useful and see if you can order some food and especially some non-intoxicating drink."

This was possible. Two mechanical elves delivered trays of food and drink, placing them on tables in front of us. I thanked them and they rolled away, shutting the apartment's door behind them.

**Why did you stop? Frijjo and Vili are anxious to speak with you. They await - impatiently. You could have used the elevator, if you tire so easily."**

Thanks. I told the intelligence that I would happily have chosen the elevator, but Odin did not regard it as adequately safe. I think the intelligence was offended. I promised we would appear in half an hour.

Odin didn't lie. The food and drink were excellent. The fish was probably the finest I have ever eaten. It was spiced to perfection. Fresh orange juice was a treat, but I drank mainly water. It was a tasty mineral water.

I convinced Odin that it would now be a surprise to arrive by elevator. Hermione's smile thanked me.

"Well, nice of you to finally join us. I was afraid I had frightened you too badly. I understand you all were greatly surprised to learn that I still live. I don't know if it's favor or not, but I will answer one burning question and tell you that your frenemy Narcissa Malfoy is the charred heap on the bottom level. She was oh so eager to get a jump on you by visiting this fortress before you did. She was certain a great prize awaited her here and that she could bypass all the travails of Quest, by boldly coming here. That last part proved true, in a way. I gave her the stone you gave me. That was a filthy trick by the way. You wanted me dead."

We sat. "Not a filthy trick. I didn't give you the stone, you stole it from me. I didn't expect you to do that. I thought but wanted to confirm that it would unlock the box. Odin had told me it would open many of his special places, except for this fortress, where it was a deadly trap. If you had stayed for a few seconds, I might have warned you. When you just vanished, I thought this is where you had gone. You needed a new protector."

"Vili has been my ally for a very long time. I don't need a protector. I'm stronger than Vili and probably Odin. I'm certainly stronger than you. At least I was before your spider bit me, but I will be full strength very soon."

Odin was annoyed. "Not full strength, you traitor. I killed yourself in that long-ago time. I walled off your favorite version of that time. I believe the great forest fire became a much smaller thing. Why do you do this?" He spat that last question.

"That's easy. I want to survive and live a life of purpose. I want to be treated as equal. I want my people to thrive. I want to rid my life of the cursed spiders. They are primitive, lacking in magic, just barely above the bar to count as intelligent, and murderous. They seem to take a disliking to me. I think it a great crime for you to have unleashed them upon Asgard and seid-space. Now you have apparently given them their own world. What could possibly go wrong? They almost wiped out both of our people in the past. I tried to change the past to improve the present. You have lost interest in your worlds. Vili and I have not. I did not wish to fight you. I was willing to wait for you to become a spirit and abandon us. You pushed me to this. It was not fair to deny me Vili. At least you couldn't bring yourself to kill your brother.

"You have been very stupid. The spiders on Asgard and in seid-space are from Terra. I killed the one egg carrier. You've brought the second with you. Kill her and there will be no Acromantula on Terra. That means none anywhere except their own world. That world can be isolated, and the contagion ended."

She pointed a finger at Boldgog. Aagog swung in front of Boldgog, to shield her. It wasn't necessary. It was as if an invisible shield separated our two groups. Frijjo's curse harmed neither spider.

**You must talk, not fight. Fighting is against the rules. I will stop it. That was your only warning.**

Frijjo looked surprised but lowered her arm and clasped her hands in her lap. "It appears we are forced to compromise. You and your friends can have this place, if Vili and I can leave safely with a good head start. Is that acceptable?"

Before any of us could respond, Vili rejected that deal. "No, I want my child and the lovely Adrienne. Ginny is correct that Adrienne matters. She matters to me. She and my child must be part of our deal."

"You expect me to surrender Professor Celine and her baby to you?"

I must have sounded as incredulous as I felt, because Vili instantly contradicted me. "No. I don't need that. I need sufficient head start to harvest them myself."

Surely, he knew a better, kinder word than harvest.

"Am I to share you with Adrienne?"

"The prophecy says this is necessary for our future. I had to share you with Odin. Fair is fair."

"Odin and I are God and Goddess. You are only a near-God. Adrienne is a not especially well educated mortal."

"That never stopped you from sharing my bed or coming to me for protection and help with your plans. If what Odin says about the death of your other self is true, you are now only near-Goddess, yourself. Let's not quarrel as we stand before our ultimate victory. Odin will leave. We will rule Asgard and Vanaheimer as married Gods. We will be Gods. Who that remains on those worlds will be our equal? We can all have what we want. You enjoyed Adrienne every bit as much as I did. Admit it."

"I don't have to leave right away," Odin told us.

"Yes, you do. Your time is past. You make mistakes. You have become more obstacle than help. I will give you a month, and then your spirit must fly away, my love."

That was far and away the nastiest 'my love' I have ever heard.

"We accept your deal and will give you a day," Odin told her. "I shall decide how soon I will depart as spirit. That is my decision, not yours."

"Don't delay. I don't guarantee your life beyond a month. As for the rest of you, you have a month to finish your business on Asgard and return to your home worlds. If I see you in Asgard after that time, or in seid-space or on Vanaheimer, other than to pack up your people and things and return home, I won't guarantee your lives, either. That goes double for the spiders.

Vili and I shall eat, sleep, and be gone in what passes for morning here. You can have it. This is the gloomiest place I've ever seen. The distant stars are brighter than its own. I don't know why you thought Ve didn't tell me he was building this place. He brought me here twice. I felt no desire to return, until you and your friends forced this trip."


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22 – Playing Catch-Up, Yet Again**

Odin led us back to the ninth-floor apartment, where we had stopped for food. The intelligence told us that the apartment was safe and that we had already laid claim to it, so it was ours for at least a day. The apartment had two bedrooms. Hermione and I claimed the one with the night view. I immediately lay down on the bed and reached for Yggdrasil, using the same Black Stone which Odin had chosen as safest.

My first question to Yggdrasil was "when are we?"

We were three weeks before leaving home to return to Asgard. I asked whether it was possible for Yggdrasil to deliver both my first message, and the one I was about to dictate, to Harry immediately without causing a rupture of time. Yggdrasil thought this too much risk for a personal message.

"These are not 'personal messages'! They are essential intelligence reports. Frijjo and Vili plan to kidnap Adrienne. They will probably try to do it prior to the time I left home. Harry and his aurors need to protect Adrienne. As far back in time as I can get that warning to him, the likelier that Adrienne and her child are free and alive. This is life and death. Harry is a responsible person. He heads our government. He will keep a secret from me to protect the integrity of time. He won't risk disaster."

**Alright, I will deliver your messages as long ago as possible. There might be a way I can deliver them weeks before today. I will tell Harry the importance of secrecy. You must make the danger very clear in the message you are about to give me. He is afraid of displeasing you. He won't just accept my statement of necessity. You must tell him that you will forgive him for keeping the secret and that your safety depends upon his secrecy. He must reveal the secret to none, except Ron.**

I readily agreed to this arrangement, giving a quick summary to Hermione.

"I think that's a very wise approach and am happy that Ron can know. If you are willing to allow me to listen in on your message, I will add specific comments for Ron."

Together we described everything which had happened, going into great detail on Frijjo's powers and treachery, the questions around Odin's true and fake stones, what we knew about Ve's fortress, the skirmish between Vili and Frijjo, and our plans to return to the far past, both for more exploration and to retrieve the rest of our party. We told Harry about the importance of Boldgog's eggs and that we needed to deliver them to schoolboy Hagrid – well at least one of them. We weren't sure what should be done with the second. Surely the Aragog clan would never have begun with a single spider – both a male and female were needed. We told the lads how much we loved and missed them and begged for a detailed message back from them. Oh yes, no confirmation, Hermione would bring back samples for one of her uncle's professor friends to analyse, but it was time to consider how to prepare Draco and McGonagall for the possibility that Narcissa had been murdered. Their choice if they thought it best to wait. We told the lads in six different ways that they absolutely must not mention either of the two messages to anyone, especially to me and Hermione, no matter how awkward it became and no matter if we both thought they had become awful husbands.

As soon as we sat up upon our beds, Odin was standing at our door and clapping his hands together, demanding our attention. "Lots of problems, many possible actions, great confusion; we need a strategy session"

We followed Odin to the sitting room. As soon as we entered the room, Baalak presented me with a wooden box. It was the size of four of my fists laid side by side. I lifted the lid. It was filled with spider silk.

"Your eggs!"

"Yes, it is not safe for me to carry them. You must keep them safe and deliver them to your world. Your Hagrid will care for them."

"That's the strategy!" Hermione told Odin. "We must go back in time, before Frijjo or Vili do. That means the purple ribbon and the ancient seid-space must be very well guarded. We will have to travel to Asgard and deliver that message personally. We should leave at once."

"We promised a one-day head start to Frijjo."

"She has proven herself to be a dangerous, psychopathic, villain. You promised her. I did not. Baalak certainly did not. She tried to murder him, just an hour ago."

"I fear we will have future dealings with Frijjo and Vili. They have been intertwined with my life for millennia. To keep the truce, we must behave honourably. How else will they trust us?"

"Who cares if they trust us. I certainly don't trust them. They've only given us a month to live in any case. Less for the spiders. This fight has moved to the past and we must move with it. My husband and Harry are at risk, along with Adrienne and her child, and undoubtedly Madam Bones. I won't let them be killed, because you don't think it fair to act now. Murderers don't deserve 'fair'."

"I sort of agree with Hermione. Anyway, if you promised on behalf of all of us, we promised to give a day's head start after they leave - right after breakfast tomorrow. We will go, return, and give them the head start you promised, but what would be truly dishonorable would be to not warn our friends that Vili is loose and coming after them, way back in time, or on the purple ribbon in our time, or on Asgard in our time. It wouldn't be fair not to warn the spiders at another attempt at their extermination by Frijjo. I say we leave immediately. I've got the genuine stone. Will the intelligence allow me to leave? Will the rest of you be safe without the stone if you stay in this apartment until breakfast? Can I Apparate from here and back to here, since I've already been here, and I hold the stone?"

"I think the answers are all yes, but we must ask the intelligence."

We did. It also gave all yeses. Odin stayed. The rest of us Apparated to the pyramid between worlds, then took the exit to Asgard, said hello to Yggdrasil, Apparated to the purple ribbon, back in time, to our friends sitting around the well in seid-space and inside Yggdrasil at the time of the great forest fire. We warned all our friends and allies. We had the spiders and our forces from our camp on Asgard reinforce those positions. Baalak had two dozen spiders delay their departure for their new world, in order to beef up the guard in seid-space.

I knew that Hagrid had been expelled in 1943, I thought in the Spring. I realised that I didn't know how long it took for an Acromantula egg to hatch. I asked Aagog. She was uncertain, she mumbled, finally confessing "my parents think me too young to be told such... sensitive things. I think it is about four months. I think the eggs must be kept warm before they hatch. It is wise that you keep the box inside your jacket."

A little tugging at my stomach and we were standing on the purple ribbon. I knew not to move. I saw no spiders, but knew they were hiding nearby.

Yggdrasil helped us calibrate our position on the purple ribbon. We just had to move a foot and a half farther from the tee. Yggdrasil said good. We churned, a wave of ripples passed through my entire body, and then my feet fell six inches to stone. My eyes saw only darkness, I smelled mustiness, and then the pyramid lights came on. Hermione, Aagog, and I had Apparated to the Hogwarts pyramid. I didn't want to be responsible for an ahistorical waking of my Black Stone, so I immediately Apparated us to the Gryffindor common room. Fortunately, it was empty. It was night. It was imperative that we figure out exactly which night this was. Wrong time would be as bad as wrong place. If we were caught here by the wrong person, this might also prove to be the wrong place.

"What are we doing?" I asked Hermione. "We can't just wait here for Hagrid to arrive back from break, can we. I was racing out of fear and just wanted to DO SOMETHING, rather than Odin's passive granting of a head start to Frijjo. Calling Harry accomplished that. We need to be back in the fortress before morning, or there certainly WILL be an explosion and we'll be blamed."

"I don't care about that, other than not wanting to see Odin lose face in front of that bitch. We don't know exactly when we are here. We don't know if the dorm rooms are occupied or the students are gone. I don't feel safe just leaving the eggs for Hagrid to find, even if we leave a message. He's so big, I'm sure his bunk will be obvious. It still seems wrong to travel back in time to take that big a risk. We have no idea where he lives, so we have no way of reaching him until he returns to Hogwarts."

We checked the Witches' dorm rooms. They were empty, except for one Witch. It wasn't unusual for a few students to not return home for winter break. No reason to trust this Witch. I drew back the bed curtains and examined her. She did look vaguely familiar.

"I think it's Professor McGonagall," Hermione gasped.

The sleeping Witch stirred. I 'Off!'ed her. Nothing malicious - I wanted a chance to think and decide a next step with Hermione, before the possible-McGonagall awoke, saw us, and forced the issue in a bad direction.

"She might not even be McGonagall. She certainly looks similar, but how do we know what McGonagall looked like at this age. Dumbledore was a professor in 1943. We could try to talk to him in private. Not now, I have no idea where his apartment is, but he'll come to the Great Hall for breakfast. We can catch him on the way in or follow him when he leaves. That's less complications, since he's dead in our world. I at least had little interaction with Dumbledore. I know it's not the same for you."

"That's fine, I choose Dumbledore. Let's at least check this girl's trunk and find out who she is. She's out cold. I'm going to take some hairs. One of us could always breakfast in her place. Don't worry about when we arrive back at the fortress. We must go through Yggdrasil and can make up any time we spend here. It's going to be hard to Apparate there accurately enough in time, anyway. That's a serious problem we should have thought about before deciding to deliver the eggs right away. We were stupid."

Hermione got the necessary hairs. It didn't take much investigating for me to find 'Minerva McGonagall' emblazoned on the side of her trunk - bright green paint.

"It's her," I told Hermione. "Should we check the Wizards' dorms. "I wonder if Witches are allowed entry in this time. Hagrid might be in his dorm. We don't know if he had a home to go to at break time."

We walked very quietly up the stairs to the Wizards' dorm. The stairs did not prevent our passage.

We quickly found Hagrid's over-sized bed. It was empty. There would not be a quick, easy solution to our problem. We did find two boys who were spending the winter break at Hogwarts. One of them was Tom Riddle. I 'Off!'ed both boys. I was in shock. Riddle was not a problem I was prepared to face. What was he even doing sleeping in Gryffindor?

"It looks like Headmaster Dippet decided to put all of the students staying in school into one House for the holidays. Riddle was an equally big shock to me. You were right to use 'Off!'. I know the two words I wanted to say to Tom. They might save a lot of people who were killed by Tom. It might even be justified to change history in order to prevent Tom ever having the chance to become Lord Voldemort, to let Jaden and Dilys live a normal life, for Harry not to have been a sad little orphan. I just have this nagging feeling that Frijjo used her seid to save us for this exact moment. I believe she has a reason to want us to kill Voldemort. We could prevent terrible things from happening, but somehow, I fear that guarantees Frijjo's victory over all of Odin's worlds. I don't even understand how that is possible, but I know I'm right. Frijjo knew we were coming here tonight, and she knew what we'd find."

I shivered. "This is all too convenient, isn't it? If we kill Riddle, this other poor, anonymous lad will be blamed for an Unforgiveable crime, won't he? We don't even know who he is."

"Yes, I did also consider that. We're in a trap. I'd prefer that these two and McGonagall be at breakfast. Otherwise, the faculty will investigate and discover that all three students were overcome by the same unknown curse. We must wake them at dawn. We can't wait for the curse to wear off. We can silently remove our curses from the boys and Apparate away, before they see us. One of us is going to have to be McGonagall at breakfast, talk to Dumbledore, and trust him to fix things. I think I understand her a little better than you do."

Hermione checked the unknown kid's trunk. "Ebenezer Eldicott. We still don't know who he is."

"I'll guard Gryffindor, while you impersonate McGonagall. We can use our rings to hide in the secret exit from the Common Room to Peverell space."


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23 – Dumbledore**

I hid in the Peverell storeroom until Hermione returned. She was not alone. A much younger Dumbledore than I knew led her into the Common Room. Of course, he led her in. She didn't know the correct password. I Apparated to the Witches' dorm rooms and walked down the stairs to join them.

"I didn't say anything in front of the others. I saw no need for Mr. Riddle to know our business. I could tell at once that you aren't Minerva McGonagall, and I've never seen your friend before. She looks old enough to be a seventh year or even a graduate. I've been here at Hogwarts for quite a few years, and I don't recognise her. Now tell me what is going on and what you have done with McGonagall."

"It's complicated. First, know that Minerva McGonagall is safe and asleep in her bed. I used a spell. We came to find Hagrid. It is very important that we talk to him. We haven't met, but you will know me in the future. I'm a Hogwarts graduate from the future. It is difficult, but it is possible to travel through time from certain places. There are magicks which aren't taught at Hogwarts. And I do not speak of dark magic. I know you are familiar with Wizard history, so you know of the priestesses of the Light Guardian and nature religions of long ago. We are priestesses. We came here to find Hagrid. We know that he did something which affected the future. A bad Goddess changed that future. Now we are trying to restore the proper path of history. I would prefer not to tell you too much, because you are important in our history and anything I say may change that history. Shall I wake McGonagall and bring her down to you?"

"Yes, I insist that you do that at once. Tell me this, will Rubeus get in any trouble because of what you want him to do."

"Yes, this is the very thing which becomes the excuse for his expulsion from Hogwarts. We aren't causing that to happen. In our time, it already happened, it is established history, and Hagrid has already recovered from it. You are a big part of that recovery. In our time, Hagrid is our friend. We help each other. This is important. This must be done."

"Finding you walking to breakfast, impersonating one of my favorite students, and in the presence of Tom Riddle. It suggests that you might be in league with Tom."

"No, we have never been allies of Tom Riddle. He tried to murder me and almost succeeded. He has always been an enemy, although he and I also haven't met yet. As far as you know, he didn't recognise that my friend was an imposter McGonagall. I'll get the real McGonagall now."

I walked up the stairs to her dorm room. I removed my 'Off!'. I told her I was a friend and not to worry. I had been forced to apply a spell to extend her sleep. It was past breakfast, but Professor Dumbledore would make sure she was able to eat. He was in the Common Room and needed to speak to her."

"Give me a minute to dress. No, you don't have to leave. I'm not overly modest."

McGonagall and I walked down the stairs together. Our appearance halted an animated discussion between Hermione and Dumbledore.

"Are you all right, Minerva?"

"Yes, but I demand to know the meaning of this!"

Dumbledore summarised what we had told them.

"That is a very iffy tale. They admit that their actions will harm Rubeus."

"Which is the strongest argument for believing them. I'm afraid Minerva is correct. You must tell us more if you expect our help."

"I feel we would need to Obliviate and Confund you, if we did that. Nobody should know their future. It is a path to insanity."

"Why do you need Hagrid?"

"He saved a magical people from extinction on their own world, by establishing and befriending them on our world. We later helped to return them to their world of origin. They can be dangerous, but they are important, and they don't harm their allies. They were once adept at working in the place where history can change and traveling in time is possible. We try not to implement our own value judgement, beyond survival of all the magical peoples. We feel incompetent to seek a finer goal than that, although the temptation is most strong. We seek to preserve history as it was known to exist in our time. We at least know that all the peoples who think have survived in that history, although many individuals were lost. The non-magical have horrible weapons, but all the magical worlds survive. Riddle was very powerful and responsible for many deaths. The Gods and Goddesses of Asgard and Vanaheimer have great power. So much could have gone wrong and wiped out a whole people, or left many, many more dead, but didn't. I'm afraid to trust in an alternate history that others would fashion for us."

"But... the evil Goddess. Dumbledore mentioned that. You say that you are priestesses. I've met two priestesses. They spoke to me when I napped in the forest, several years ago."

"We knew that you knew Victoria Malfoy and Mafalda but didn't realise you knew them at such a young age."

"You know them?"

"I know them well. It was you who first introduced us to them."

"They both had an artifact, passed down to them by older priestesses. Have you such?"

I held out my hand. I was wearing my Mother-of-the-Future ring.

"And this ring was passed down to you from the days of the ancient priestesses?

"No, I made it myself, based upon guidance from the Light Guardian. Whether Keeper rings or Mother rings, apparently what is passed down in my time is the knowledge needed to turn ordinary materials into artifacts, rather than the artifacts, themselves. I currently lead a Quest. I am the Mother of the Future. Ironically, part of my job has become preserving the integrity of history. In this case, the things which happened this year at Hogwarts."

"Mafalda told me about the Light Guardian. It is a religion all but lost to our people. She mentioned the myth of the Mother. You have my attention. Who is your friend? How do you know me? Dumbledore said your friend entered the Great Hall with Tom Riddle. I fear Tom. He is dangerous... and somehow, for one so young, he is very evil. I think of that much evil as needing many years to mature."

"She is my Muse. She was the most talented Witch in her class, maybe of our entire generation. How do we know you? You were our Transfiguration professor. An older you was a member of my Quest team. No, you didn't die, events forced you to go a different direction. Yes, Tom is dangerously evil. We considered killing him, but that would rupture time and history."

"I know Tom is bad, but the only thing which would restrain you from killing him, a Hogwarts student, is that it would be bad for history? That seems cold. If I taught you Transfiguration, show me what you can do."

I turned the furniture to a pile of brooms. I turned it back. I made it look newer. "You need to know that Tom is more than just bad. He becomes far, far worse in future years. Apart from Salazar Slytherin, he may be the most awful Wizard who ever lived. He is responsible for many, many deaths in his struggle to rule us, wipe out non-magicals and Muggle-born, and live forever. He is, or he was - he's dead in my time, sick in the head in a way which is impossible to fix. I knew a Professor McGonagall, who had spent most of her adult life fighting him and his followers."

"He's started very badly, so I'll accept that, for now. Tell me about myself."

"Your uncle is a wandmaker. You dissected some of his wands, about a dozen I think it was, to figure out how they worked. Your most dramatic wild magic, before you came to Hogwarts, was a wild Apparate to escape his wrath; you wish a Witch like yourself could take over the wand-making business; you are attracted to Witches rather than Wizards; you're addicted to Quidditch; and you have a passionate belief in equality for Witches."

"I guess you have met me in the future."

Hermione suddenly seemed worried. "Shouldn't we go someplace safer, before Tom returns."

"He could be close to finished with the errand I sent him on," Dumbledore admitted.

I could tell the portal was opening. I grabbed Dumbledore and McGonagall. Hermione grabbed me. I Apparated us to the Witches' dorm. We sat on the beds.

"Apparation isn't possible within Hogwarts. It is a fundamental magical protection."

"Elves do it all the time. We learned the trick."

I was actually very proud of myself. My Black Stone slept. I was relying upon the Black Stone and circle in the pyramid between worlds and the circle in the Sacred Cavern. I didn't dare to wake my Stone.

"What do you need from Hagrid?"

"Hagrid loves exotic animals. History says that he acquired an egg from a stranger. He cared for the egg. It hatched into a tiny spider. The spider grew and started a clan of thinking spiders. VERY large thinking spiders. The problem is, how can Hagrid get that egg. Well, that's the first problem. As far as we know, there are no Acromantula eggs on Earth, apart from the two in my pocket. The second problem is that history speaks of only one egg in Hagrid's possession. Shouldn't it require a male and a female spider to make fertile eggs and start a spider clan? I have two eggs. I hope they will yield a male and a female spider. I can't be sure of that. It would be most cruel if these eggs yield the same sex spiders."

"And where do you propose that these spiders should live?"

"They have a big cave in the Forbidden Forest. You know, the one where the stones from the ancient magical circle were stored. I know you know about magical circles."

"I have seen one. I assisted the Goblins in tuning it. The cavern was a little unstable and they needed an idiot to enter it. I was fascinated by their tools and their description of the source of magic, so I took the risk. Knowledge often comes at great risk."

"A powerful God told me exactly the same thing."

"I will keep one egg and give the other to Hagrid. Is there anything else I need to know?"

"I guess if you are helping the spiders, you need to know. A student will die this term. Tom will blame Hagrid and his spider. It isn't true. Tom is responsible for the death. The killer is a basilisk that Tom frees from the Chamber of Secrets under Hogwarts. It is the smallest part of Slytherins revenge, but the other part doesn't come until my time. Now what are we to do with the two of you? You now know what you must see as a terrible secret. You'll want to stop the killing of the student. You can't. You'll want to lash out when Tom accuses Hagrid. You can't. You'll want to scream when Dippet declares Tom to be the school hero for stopping the deaths. You can't do that either. You must go about your business as usual. You must help Hagrid when you can. He is to become Hogwarts' game keeper'. You must prepare him for that job and give it to him, when you're headmaster."

"Miss McGonagall. If you are up there, I demand that you come down at once."

"That's Dippet, he's headmaster and a right scoundrel. He fawns on Tom. You had best go down, Minerva."

McGonagall headed down the stairs to the Common Room. I heard from half-way down the stairs "is something the matter, Sir?"

"Tom claims you are a Polyjuiced imposter. He says you were acting very strangely at breakfast. Polyjuice is a potion, which allows one to assume the appearance of another, by the way. Tom knows of these advanced matters and can recognise the effects of the juice."

"This is hardly the first time Tom has accused me of being odd... or weird, or strange, or peculiar, or unnatural, or far too friendly with the Muggle-born, or even of being a Scottish wench who doesn't know her place. For some reason he took a disliking to me my first year and has been beastly to me ever since. He is an awful bully."

"She is an odd one, but she was odd in a different way this morning. She looked like she was on the juice; she acted strangely; when I asked her a question which I knew that the real McGonagall could answer easily, she refused to answer me."

"I refuse to acknowledge Mister Riddle's right to interrogate me. Why should I answer his stupid test questions?"

"This is easily settled. If Tom is correct, you will turn back into your natural form within twelve hours. Well, really eleven hours, since Tom saw you coming down the stairs from your dorm room over an hour ago. You are going to spend those eleven hours with me. Just remember: if Tom doesn't like you, I'm unlikely to be fond of you. Tom - please fetch Professor Manic. I want her to search the Witches' dorms. Before you go, please ask Miss McGonagall the question you previously asked. I will demand that she answer you."

"What did I say to you at dinner last night?"

"You told me that I loved the filthy Mudbloods so much that you suspected I might actually be a Mudblood myself. I was not about to repeat anything so vile. The headmaster gave me no choice."

"Is she correct?"

"Yes, she is. I was certain she was juiced. She still seems strange. Perhaps I was wrong."

"That's fine Tom. It's best to report serious suspicions. Now, off with you, I need Professor Manic."

"That's not good. Can you get us out of here?" Dumbledore asked me.

"Yes, now might be a good time to explore his office. It sounds like he's going to be here for a while."

"It's impossible. Dippet has the Gargoyle trained to a new level of viciousness. It almost took off a student's arm last term. I am not trusted with the password."

"That's alright, we'll go in through the back door. I know the secrets of that route."

We Apparated into the Peverell storeroom and I led us up and down the hidden stairways and tunnels, until we arrived at the rear of the headmaster's fireplace. I couldn't miss that Dumbledore was all eyes during our journey. Clearly, he hadn't seen any of this before. I felt I had made an error in deciding that we must investigate Dippet's office. Why? Because I was curious! I knew it didn't relate to the most important tasks at hand, but I just couldn't contain my curiosity. This was not the sort of mistake which Hermione was consistently good at steering me from.

I worked the peephole to be certain the office was empty, then applied my Mother ring to the appropriate spot. The fireplace pulled away from the wall and we climbed up into the headmaster's office.

"Touch nothing until you put on these gloves," Hermione instructed. There are no portraits here in the headmaster's apartment, but they'll see us as soon as we walk into the office. He doubtless believes these rooms are safest. As you can see, they aren't. We'll begin our search in here."

We found many obscure works on dark magic, mostly not in English. Hermione gave a quick translation of the beginnings of these manuscripts. Two of the manuscripts seemed of particular interest to her. She threw some paper from her carry-all on the floor and created copies of these documents. I saw that she hadn't made exact copies. Hers looked far less fragile.

Dumbledore said several of the manuscripts were ancient, banned totally, and not at all what a respectable Hogwarts professor or headmaster should have in his possession. He looked askance at Hermione's actions, telling her 'I see you copied the worst of them. Does that say something about your attraction to the dark? I see the future Hogwarts provides a very fine education."

"Not so fine. Things went downhill in the age of Riddle. We did spend some time with an exceptional art professor. She taught us the rudiments of what I just did. The rest I learned post-Hogwarts. I take what I think might provide clues to what we face. I am not turning toward the dark."

"Hogwarts has never taught art."

"I think you'll find that it did. Read the documents in the display cases of the storeroom we passed through. I saw your eyes bugging out. Restoring art instruction was one of McGonagall's innovations as headmaster."

I was thinking way too much information, but it seemed impolite to stop Hermione. Dumbledore seemed totally unsurprised by Hermione's last statement, although that Wizard was hard to read. We found nothing which truly incriminated Dippet in dark magic carryings-on. There was an exchange of notes showing the Goblins has payed him to vote in their favor on issues of Gringotts's governance. Dumbledore pocketed those. There was a decorative pottery urn which revealed, when Hermione uncapped it, a truly impressive collection of gold galleons.

Hermione pulled invisibility cloaks from her bag. We pulled them over ourselves, then entered Dippet's office. There was a pile of correspondence between Abraxas Malfoy and Dippet. The letter he was writing requested help in finding "a summer position for a very talented, but indigent, young Wizard named Thomas Riddle: "I've spoken to you of him previously. I have ascertained that this young Wizard shares our interests and is well equipped to advance them." The rest was suck-up blather to one with a far larger pile of galleons than Dippet possessed. We didn't find much else.

I Apparated us to the Quidditch dressing rooms, so that we could chat with Dumbledore and escape detection. As I suspected, we were alone. The Apparate had pushed Hermione over the edge and she was rapidly transitioning back to herself.

"It's good to see who you really are and to avoid a second McGonagall. You've shown me places within and under the castle, which I was unaware of. I believe you are whom you say you are. We must discuss how to handle all this secret knowledge you've brought with you. If you know Hagrid, then you know it's utterly impossible for him to keep a secret. He must receive his egg, without explanation, from a stranger. It's the only way. I hate to cause pain to Hagrid. He has suffered so much at the hands, wands, and feet of the Slytherins. If I say this mission is important, he will willingly undertake it, regardless of the certainty of harm to himself. That's Hagrid. I don't know how much time we have or will need. I want to talk about Riddle. I also am unsure how much McGonagall should be allowed to remember. She is fundamentally sound, but still a female and not the strongest amongst them. I mean no insult and that obviously is more true in my time than in yours. She's probably the smartest, though."

"To be honest, we should tell you that we've read your diaries. You left them to my husband after your death. My husband killed Riddle. It was a fair duel. Riddle had a decade reign of terror, then was bested but lived, then regained his strength and took over the government and wrought catastrophe for one, totally awful year. Then my husband killed him, and we set up a better government. You died right before Riddle took over the government, so unfortunately you didn't see us win, but you were our inspiration. We were both members of Dumbledore's Army. It was an informal thing formed by like-minded students to protect themselves and Hogwarts."

"How many deaths is Tom responsible for."

"I'm not sure anyone has an exact number. I'd say a couple of thousands of magical and nonmagical, with a later emphasis upon Muggle-born. Nobody knows for sure; the terror was as important and helpful to his goals as the actual killing was."

"The student who died?"

"Her name was Myrtle. I'm ashamed not to know her last name. She is a ghost in my time. We all called her 'Moaning Myrtle'. She inhabited the first floor Witches bathroom."

"And you are quite sure we shouldn't just kill Tom right now to spare our community all of these deaths?"

I didn't know what to say. Hermione jumped in "we can't possibly be certain what the best answer is. Messing with time seems very dangerous. The bad Goddess has messed a lot. She is still alive. I fear she wanted us to come here and rip time. All I know is that in our time the world survives and and, despite problems, is in a promising condition. That seems a good thing that we should avoid putting at risk."

"Does Tom kill other students while he's at Hogwarts?"

"We know you know this name, because you wrote of her in your diaries. Jaden Caulfield becomes his girlfriend. When she tries to leave him, he kidnaps her, kills her family, and holds her prisoner to have his baby. We rescued her. Yes, she was a semi-conscious, very slowly aging prisoner for a very long time. Her friend Dilys spent most of her life hiding from Tom, although I'm convinced Tom knew where she was the whole time."

"I fear I may have pushed Tom and Jaden together."

"That's the tale from your diaries. You write a lot. We read all of it, for background about the older Witches and Wizards who opposed us."

"Does Riddle's child live?"

"We don't think so. The evil Goddess told us she just killed her. We found an unidentifiable body. I have samples for Muggle professors to test. They can do tests in our time that won't be discovered for decades from now. The ordinary British, we promised ourselves to stop calling them Muggles, have advanced so far in their technology, compared to today. We can't be certain anything the Goddess says is true. Even worse, she is able to make what she says become true."

"You mentioned a God and Goddess. Who is she. She sound more dangerous than Tom."

"Her name is Frijjo. We are allied with Odin. Frijjo and Vili oppose him. Ve is dead. Freyr is dead."

"Ahh, I loved reading those tales as a student. Hogwarts had a myths course back in my day, so the library had many books about the ancient heroes. I loved the Merlin books. Is he also real? Have you met him."?

"We haven't met him and don't know how real he is."

"Pity. You should know that I've read enough of myths to know that this changing of history of which you speak is called seid. It is among the darkest of the dark magics. Be very careful that it neither corrupts nor destroys you."

"That is my great fear," Hermione admitted. "Fail to learn enough seid; fail to adequately defend seid space; Frijjo or one like her will write us and our world out of existence. She and others have already tried that. It has reached the point that I can't tell if Ginny and I are supposed to be alive or dead or to never have existed. It's awful, but I feel we have no choice but to soldier on. I'm a scholar not a soldier, so this is most uncomfortable for me."

Dumbledore pointedly ignored the obvious fact that tears were streaming down Hermione's cheeks. He pressed on. "So, the big question is, how much of all of this do you need me to remember in order to do what needs to be done, without changing history?

"Dippet will keep pushing at McGonagall. She can't be allowed to remember. She isn't needed to do anything beyond what she would naturally do, so she can't be allowed to remember you or any of this. Together, can we Obliviate and Confund her in a way which can't be discovered, a way which doesn't leave unexplained gaps or oddities in her thoughts?"

"I think we can," Hermione told him more firmly than I felt.

"I perhaps phrased that inexactly. Dippet will be with her for perhaps ten hours. Can we do something that prevents him forcing the truth out of her in that time?"


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24 – Let's Do What We Must And Get Out Of Here**

"Do you have Liar's Milk in your carry-all?"

"Need you even ask? It was a foreseeable need, so I packed it."

"What is Liar's Milk," Dumbledore inserted himself into our conversation."

"Yes, of course you couldn't possibly know of that potion. The key, esoteric ingredient in that potion is the venom of the Acromantula spider and Hagrid has yet to introduce the spiders onto your world. It will be at least 1945 or 1946 until there are large enough spiders to milk for their venom. Even then, it would take a friend of the spiders, such as Hagrid, to collect any of the venom."

"That is most strange," I was struck by an out-of-time feeling when Hermione said that. "My Ha… husband got around Slughorn by appealing to his greed to acquire Acromantula venom. That means there were enough potions using it as an ingredient to make it very valuable. Yet, we know that potions knowledge changes very slowly, because Snape's old text was the same as ours. McGonagall said even older textbooks would be virtually the same. You confirmed that with what you pulled from the stables."

"Texts change more slowly than knowledge of any magical subject," Dumbledore explained to us. "Every little change requires approval from our very stodgy Ministry. Still you are correct that potions have changed almost not at all. I will keep that in mind and look around myself in the years ahead. It is easier to create something, when you know that it can be created, and you know its purpose. Even easier when given the key esoteric ingredient."

"Watch Slughorn. Slytherin-for-life in addition to greedy. Very close to Tom, isn't he?"

"Not as close as Dippet, but surprisingly gulled by the act Tom puts on for the more credulous faculty."

"Perhaps not simply credulous, in Slughorn's case. Here is the 'Liars' Milk'," Hermione showed Dumbledore the bottle. "McGonagall must take a full gulp of it. Once she does, she'll be able to lie to truth-tellers, defy even spiked Veritaserum, and stand up to any questioning Dippet or Tom subject her to. It's good for a couple to several hours."

We decided that Dumbledore would distract Dippet and we would Apparate into the Common Room, get McGonagall to gulp down some of the Milk and then vanish before Dippet was any the wiser. We had to finish before Tom returned with Professor Manic. We told Dumbledore that he could find us in the library after he finished with Dippet.

We Apparated Dumbledore to the Fat Lady, with our cloaks in place, then Apparated into the Common Room as soon as he pounded the portal. Just before we left him, Dumbledore whispered at us "tell Minerva that the fortunes bless your swallowing this potion."

Dippet was already standing in front of the portal, Tom hadn't returned, and McGonagall was almost out of Dippet's sight. We peaked out from under our cloaks and approached McGonagall, signaling her to be silent and move a little to her left.

"Dumbledore says to tell you that the fortunes bless your swallowing one big gulp of this potion. It will allow you to lie, without detection, for at least the next two hours." Hermione presented the bottle to her.

McGonagall looked slightly skeptical but accepted the bottle and quickly swallowed a swig. As soon as the bottle was back in Hermione's hand, I grabbed her other wrist and we were standing in the library. We had to wait half an hour for Dumbledore to join us. I was worried that Dippet had assaulted him.

"I delayed Dippet with my concern for a member of my house. I complained before I left that he and Tom appeared to be holding her prisoner. Just then Tom returned with Professor Manic and Dippet instructed her to thoroughly search the Witches' dorm rooms for either an interloper or a murdered 'real McGonagall'. I innocently inquired why there was any doubt regarding the genuineness of the McGonagall who stood before us."

"Tom says she's a Polyjuiced imposter. A sense that she wasn't quite right at breakfast. He couldn't quite put his finger on the problem apart from her refusal to answer a question which would have resolved the matter."

"I realised what the difference was," Tom helpfully volunteered. "She was unafraid of me. She always betrays her fear."

"I must tell you that Dippet looked as though Tom had foolishly led him into embarrassment. Tom produced a bottle of Veritaserum, pronouncing it 'another way to get at the truth.' McGonagall threatened 'my uncle will hear of this. He is not without influence.' Dippet suggested that perhaps the simplest solution would be for her to 'just do as Tom suggests and swallow the Veritaserum. I'm sure you're no more interested in spending the rest of the day with me than I am in spending it with you. If you pass the test, you will be recompensed. It's only fair.' She swallowed. They waited. During that time Professor Manic reported that nobody, neither dead nor alive, was upstairs in any of the Witches' dorm rooms. Dippet put the question. McGonagall said she was McGonagall. Tom demanded to know why she had failed to show her normal fear. She answered: 'I realised what a pathetic, strutting arse you have become. I have an uncle to complain to. You have nobody. I know more spells than you. I know more potions. Why should I fear you? Your advantage is that you push boundaries. Push me and I shall destroy you.' It was beautiful."

"I fear he'll attack McGonagall as soon as she's alone," I told them. "To the Witches' dorm?"

The other's nodded yes, and I transported us there. As we walked to the top of the stairs, we saw Tom yelling at McGonagall, who held her wand defensively.

"I'll show you that you have damned good reason to fear me. You embarrassed me. Dippet doubts me for the first time this year. You will pay for that."

He pointed his wand at McGonagall. We had tied into the Black Stone between worlds. It would be much better to have our own, on this world, Black Stone, but we had to make do with the tools at hand. Hermione did an almost silent "Protego!" as Tom screamed "CRUCIO!" at McGonagall. He was beyond angry.

I could tell that some of the pain had evaded Hermione's protection. "I pointed my wand at Tom and did a silent 'Crucio'.

Tom collapsed in agony. I could tell that he assumed his curse had rebounded upon him. He groped for his wand, which he had dropped as he fell. He finally realised the wand was under him. He pulled it out, pointed it between himself and McGonagall and cancelled his curse. They both looked much happier. I removed my curse at the same instant.

"This isn't over," He screamed, pointing his wand at her.

McGonagall pointed her wand at him. I performed an 'Expelliarmus' and then incinerated his wand while it was in the air. Hermione's 'Back!" had him bounced against the portal. He decided to exit.

We walked down the stairs. "You're in danger and we can't stay to protect you. You must learn improved fighting skills. We can teach you."

"Yes, I want to do that. I won't be afraid of Tom. Thank you for rescuing me."

This was a tough situation. We should have Obliviated McGonagall, but if we did that, Riddle would obliterate a rather defenseless Witch, who wouldn't even understand why Riddle was so determined to destroy her. Either route risked changing history. What to do? We decided not to Obliviate. Dumbledore was left in charge of that option, should it become necessary. He and Hagrid would keep a watchful eye out for Tom's inevitable attempts to chop McGonagall down. We spent three days teaching McGonagall to defend herself. We broke our own rules and introduced her to the Black Rock in the world-between-worlds. We taught her to draw power from that Stone and to always keep her defensive charms fully powered up. She practiced our standard charms. She practiced 'Back!' and 'Off!'. We taught her awareness that she could be assaulted at any time. Very importantly, we taught her not to let Tom get away with surprise attacks, but to surprise him right back. He was still bully Tom, not Voldemort Tom, and might well be persuaded that the ego benefit of punishing McGonagall wasn't worth the potential cost. When we taught McGonagall 'Off', we explained that it would leave Tom out for half a day, without injuring him in the slightest. As an "I can get you" surprise message, it was tops. We were working on wandless spells.

At the end of the third day, Tom attacked her. It was an almost surprise attack. She did well in fending him off. Her defensive charms blunted the attack and her 'Back!' knocked him off balance, but not enough. She should have followed up with another curse but didn't. She needed more killer instinct. As Tom was about to make full use of his own killer instinct, I 'Off'ed him with a sneak curse from behind my invisibility cloak. McGonagall had also made the error of walking into a side hallway, which was disused during winter break. I told her she was doing better but needed both to avoid likely ambush spots and to press her attack. She could have ended the fight with an 'Off!'.

There was just a day until the Hogwarts Express was due. We provided more training for McGonagall during the six hours we left Tom collapsed on the floor. We focused on the mental side of fighting, convincing her that an 'Off!' wouldn't hurt Tom, while he surely would hurt her. Hermione made a port-key bracelet for her, which would transport her to her bed in the dorm. She could trigger it with her mind. It was her last line of defence. We told her that we'd like to help her further, but that we couldn't be at Hogwarts when all the students arrived. She should tell the Gryffindors that Tom had a vendetta against her and use the mass of Gryffindors as protection. We promised to check back with her as soon as we could. We stayed until the evening when the Express was due. Tom did not try another attack during that time. McGonagall only had until end of year to avoid Tom, then she would graduate, and he would still have two years to go.

As we prepared to leave 1943 Hogwarts, I removed the purple diamond from the spare wand I had been using, flipped the wand into the air and pronounced "Incendio", as I sent it to ashes. I won't say I knew I was a very naughty Witch, but friendly Wizengamot and Minister, or not, I wasn't going to give anyone the chance to read the 'Crucio' I had performed with this wand. A spare wand just wasn't worth that risk. Come to think of it, I had used this wand for a mercy 'AK' on the dying Brrrio. Destruction of the wand was an even better idea than I had initially thought. I found McGonagall and borrowed her wand. I inserted the purple diamond into its handle. "I think you will find that you wand works a little better now, especially when you tie into the Black Stone. Tell nobody about this!" Foolish? Yes, but I felt a keen responsibility not to get McGonagall killed before she was able to live the life I knew she would live.

We reversed our previous travel and wound up back in Ve's fortress just six hours after we had left Odin. Odin was relieved to see us. I'm not sure he could have left the fortress without us. "No point going to bed at this hour. Breakfast in an hour and I plan to breakfast with my uninvited guests. Yggdrasil has convinced the intelligence that you and I and nobody else are in charge here. I'll instruct the intelligence to insist that Frijjo and Vili present themselves for breakfast in the official dining room on the third level. Now, was your trip back in time to your world really as necessary and useful as you thought?"

Hermione and I exchanged glances but agreed to tell Odin just how great a disaster our trip had been and why we would need to make another trip back to 1943 Hogwarts end of term, to assure that Dumbledore had Obliviated McGonagall.

"Yes, that is an important lesson. Tampering with time produces unforeseen consequences. Your adventure went better than I expected it would. Excuse me, message from the intelligence..."

We waited. Odin was furious. "Frijjo and Vili departed the fortress as soon as we left their apartment. They've been gone for almost half a day. We play catch-up yet again. I should have expected this. No more overly fair from me."

Since we were able to move back in time by using the purple ribbon, I saw no reason not to wait for breakfast. I was hungry. While Odin fumed, Hermione and I ate a very tasty and quite large breakfast. At Hogwarts, we ate only the limited food Dumbledore was able to smuggle to us. It hadn't been nearly enough.

We asked the intelligence where we could find sufficient finely woven cloth to fashion a shroud for what might or might not be all that was left of Narcissa. Baalak sealed the shroud with spider silk. We would transport 'Narcissa' with us. I planned a return home, in our own time, as quickly as possible. I sent another quick update message to Harry.

We all made the journey back to Yggdrasil in the time before the fire. From there we were able to Apparate onto the tee off the purple ribbon. That got us there in the same time we had been at the fortress. A large spider approached. Baalak asked it if Frijjo and Vili had been this way. They had. They had arrived ten days ago. Her brother spider had bitten and killed Frijjo. Vili Apparated away.

"Good work!" I congratulated the spider.

Perhaps that was insensitive. Of course, Odin wanted to be shown Frijjo's body. The spider led us to the body. It was Frijjo. She was dead. Odin wept over the body. He planned to return her body to Asgard, in our own time, for a proper Aesir funeral. There was no question of taking her to Vanaheimer. Everyone knew she scarcely was Vanir. Frijjo's end was in a way anticlimactic and in another way very fitting. One of the hated spiders she had tried to exterminate had gotten her. Odin didn't have the heart to kill her and Hermione and I had passed opportunities to just allow her to die of injuries. She had tried to destroy us and our friends, but there also were times when she had saved us. It was very possible that I would have died in the Chamber of Secrets, absent her intervention. Overall, I was both pleased that she was dead and more pleased that I hadn't been required to kill her personally. I sent a very brief message to Harry, mainly telling him about Frijjo, with a warning that I was certain Vili would come for Adrienne.

I suggested that we would walk along the path and visit our forces arrayed around Yggdrasil. As Odin was about to Apparate, I stopped him with a question. "Does Vili know seid?"

"Not to my knowledge. He killed off any possible female side a very long time ago. I don't know whether the loss of Frijjo will make him more or less reasonable, once he calms. She had a way of goading him into foolish actions. He will certainly have been very angry when he left here." I realized I had a second question "would you mind terribly if we cursed Frijjo's body, just to be absolutely sure she's really dead?"

Odin gave me a concerned look, but stepped aside. Hermione and I placed our wand tips together, right upon her forehead, and whispered 'Kill!' Frijjo's body didn't jerk or anything. I'm almost, totally positive she was already dead, but somehow that action made me feel safer. I hadn't yet achieved proper priestess and Mother thinking.

We followed Odin, all the way back to Asgard in our own time, having collected all of our comrades along the way. Asgard was strangely unchanged. The mature forest had not reappeared, although the saplings Odin had planted were growing nicely. Odin sent two ravens aloft. We lingered beside Odin long enough for him to receive the report from his birds. They just climbed to height, flew in a small circle and quickly returned to Odin's shoulders.

"They see very little signs of the ancient forest. There seems to be more forest far in the southwest. That is all."

"I hope that we may see you again, but we must go home. There is much for us to think about. I worry about Adrienne. We can talk via the Stones. I feel… empty, yet I know there is more which must be done and that you and we must do it. Goodbye, friend.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25 – Harry!**

I was first out of our Black Stone and the first face I saw was… Harry! I hurried to Harry and wrapped my arms around him, both because I needed to leave space for others to leave the Stone, but most importantly, because I was badly in need of a Harry snog.

"I didn't expect to find you here. I thought you'd be at the Ministry, governing."

"It's nine at night. We just fought a battle. Vili came through the Stone. We were hiding Adrienne and her son on the pyramid floor. Here or the Ministry is the strongest defensive position. Vili came through with two pals. The pals are dead. Vili tried to pass back through the Stone, but it rejected him – with emphasis. He then Apparated away from the position where he fell. He was badly wounded. I don't know how quickly he can recover. He left only half an hour ago."

"We must pursue him to the pyramid between worlds. He's probably gone, but we shouldn't miss the chance."

I told my forces that we possibly had one more fight – with Vili. Larry lent several aurors and we marched through the Black Stone into the world-between-worlds. The lights came on. I asked the Black Stone about Vili. He had passed, moving very slowly. He was traveling to the exits to other worlds. We sprinted to the portal; I used my Mother ring; we were all ready to fire as the silver door slid open. There was nobody behind it. We carefully entered the passage to the exits to other worlds. I saw Vili. I hugged the wall as he pointed and fired a curse at us. I fired back. Aagog and the other spiders climbed to the ceiling and raced after him. I reached for both Black Stones and fired the strongest 'Off!' I could manage. I probably should have used 'Kill!' but worried that Odin couldn't handle two deaths in the family on the same day. The 'Off!' jolted him, but he turned and continued to drag himself toward the exits. Hermione and Barb had raced to my side.

"Triple 'Off!' Hermione suggested.

"Are you both plugged into both Stones for power," I asked.

"I am now. One, two, three, Now!"

We all shouted 'Off!' at the top of our lungs. We had found that this helped. The Stone link helped our synchronicity. A lash of green energy shot from the point where our wands touched and struck Vili in the back of his head. He crumpled forward. I took a moment to clear my head. I shook my arm until feeling returned. Yes, there had been some blowback. Hermione looked fine. Barb's was hunched over with her hands on her ears.

"Relax and takes calm breaths. Hermione and I will feed Stone energy into you."

After half a minute, Barb said "I'm fine, go goop Vili, so he doesn't escape. You might want to make sure he isn't dead."

Hermione and I followed by the mob walked up to the heap on the stone floor, which was Vili. We couldn't see him, until we got right up to him, because he was surrounded by three big Acromantula, with Aagog sitting on his neck.

"We bite?"

"No, I think we must deliver him alive to Odin. We'll goop him, then you can cover him in spider silk. He really looks much the worse for wear. His skin is burnt in places. Maybe you should spin first, the spider silk may be good for his skin. I asked Hermione about her burn potion. She reminded me that we had used the last of it."

I reached through the Black Stone for Yggdrasil and Odin. I reached Yggdrasil at once and Odin just moments later. I told him we had Vili. He had invaded our world and our defenders had almost killed him. We had 'Off!'ed him before he could escape. Odin needed to come at once, with whatever potions he used to treat burns.

"We're in the pyramid-between-worlds. Vili was limping toward the exits to other worlds. I don't know which world was his destination, but we can bring him through the Asgard exit within ten minutes."

"That is excellent. I will meet you there."

We spent several more minutes strategically gooping the already cocooned Vili. He wasn't going to be able to point at anyone. A levitation spell and we guided him to the portal, which exited upon my Asgard lands.

"Wands ready! Odin should be here to greet us when the door opens, but I'm taking no chances."

The door dropped into the floor. Odin greeted us. We quickly lowered our wands and steered Vili out onto Asgard.

"I know you want to be home. I'll take it from here. I have the correct potions and my Elves will help me. Thank you for not killing him. I hope I can save him. What injuries has he sustained? Did a spider bite him?"

"No bite," Aagog reported.

One of Harry's aurors supplied the information I could not "I'm reporting, because Ginny and her group arrived after the main battle was over. He arrived with two friends and seized Adrienne and the child. Adrienne kneed him in his privates, then put her wand up against his head for the 'Avada Kedavra'. That staggered him and Adrienne and her son escaped his grasp. Quite a few of us fired a lot of curses: 'Petrificus Totalis', 'Off!', 'Avada Kedavra', and 'Kill' were the ones I heard. He got a few sword slashes – the one to his left leg drew blood. Two of the soldiers hit him with flame throwers and several with rifle fire. He tried to walk through the Black Stone, but it threw him back. He collapsed on the floor and Apparated away."

I picked up the story. "We found him dragging himself toward the exit portals. We fired several 'Off's to almost no effect. We then dropped him with a triple-'Off!' I would guess that's good for another several hours, at least, but Frijjo pretty much faked being greatly affected by that curse. I can't guarantee he's out, but he is well enough gooped that he won't be pointing at anyone."

"Thank you for the report. I'll tend to Vili. I'll contact you and let you know how well he recovers."

"Do you want your stone back, so you can take him back to his cell? That would be safest."

"I have not decided if that is what I want to do. He is all the family I have left. Either in his cell, or under my watch at Valaskjalf, he and I will have a long talk. I don't need the stone back, I have Frijjo's and I've figured out how she altered it. It should work for me. To be safe, I'll have Yggdrasil contact the intelligence, before I try to approach the fortress. Goodbye, and I'm sorry my family keeps causing so much trouble for you. After I fix Vili, I am going to need to find out whom his accomplices were, so please preserve the bodies."

We returned to the Hogwarts pyramid. As the first half of our group had poured out of the Black Stone, I shouted to Harry "we caught him and delivered him to Odin. He was half dead."

A roar of cheers rose up from the occupants of the pyramid. "I know many are going to want a meeting of Hermione's committee, but I hope that can wait a day. We've had a difficult and confusing time. By the way, when are we?"

"You've been gone about half a day," Harry answered. "I got your messages and we strengthened our defences. It's a very good thing we did. I'm glad you managed to kill Frijjo. I doubt we could have defeated Frijjo and Vili and a couple of Frijjo's pals in addition to Vili's. I'm am grateful that Adrienne and her child are safe."

I introduced Baalak to the group. He introduced the other two fully adult spiders who had travelled with us, telling Harry that they must return to guard seid-space "just in case." Baalak asked and received permission to attend Hermione's committee meeting.

Harry announced that Neville had agreed to have the Hogwarts Elves feed my team. I told the team that I hoped they would stay until after tomorrow's committee meeting but that everyone should plan on a week off, before we re-assembled to hash over all that had happened and to make plans.

Harry said he realised I likely was beat, but that it really would help if a small group of us met at our house. Harry, Cho, Hermione, Ron, Shacklebolt, McGonagall, and Professor Sturluson, who had somehow been nominated as Tony's representative, while I was off subduing Vili. I had no choice but to agree. Harry seemed pleased. Professor Sturluson seemed even more pleased.

Hermione told Harry that the meeting would have to wait until she was able to arrange for her professor uncle's other professor friend to come and examine 'Narcissa'.

"Yes, that is a most urgent requirement. We can't avoid Draco forever," McGonagall for some reason chose to admonish... me.

It took half an hour for Hermione to pop out and back with both uncle professor and the other professor. Then I was off to my own home. Since Harry didn't want us to stay for Neville's dinner, which was already being served, I hoped we had a big pile of food in the house. I took my chances and Apparated straight back to our home. I brought Aagog with me.

"What's Odin going to do with Vili?" This was from Harry. It was obvious what Harry wanted Odin to do.

"I don't know. He was getting very sentimental. Frijjo's death has rocked him, even though he didn't trust her anymore. Apart from us, Vili may be the only person he can talk to comfortably. I know, I know, but they are brothers, despite Vili's betrayal and Odin locking him away. Odin always made a point of telling me that he did what he had to do, because Vili had become dangerous to all the worlds. I'm sure he has contacts on all of the worlds, including this one, who would give him a safe base if he escaped Odin."

"And Odin may not try overly hard to prevent that escape?" Ron was upset. "You made a mistake turning him over to Odin instead of just killing him."

"You may be right. I'm trying to be a better priestess."

McGonagall told me that she remembered our encounter "way back in 1943. Dumbledore worked some magic on my mind, so that I didn't remember until this morning. Thank you. You have been more my mentor than I yours. Your tricks got me past Tom until I graduated. I think he was a little scared of me."

Harry shot McGonagall a look for that diversion. "What happens to the Quest now?"

"That's what we have to decide tomorrow. I fear that I really need to go back to Vanaheimer and then to Venera. The dark Gods, who really didn't seem as bad as advertised, came to Vanaheimer from, or at least through, Venera. I think there are answers there. I want the Keepers on Vanaheimer to come out of the power struggle in a good position. Perhaps the Council can be an honest partner. The Keepers can help to determine that. I feel a lot is going to change quickly without Frijjo and that it won't be long until all the major actors on Vanaheimer learn of her death. I am not sure that it is wise to resume the Quest. I'm afraid it is more dangerous to quit with so many questions unanswered."

I had to reassure Harry that I had seen and touched Frijjo's body. She really was dead. I told him about our curse for good measure. She had been bitten more than once by very large spiders. No potion was given to her. Odin couldn't have gotten her back to Asgard for at least another hour after I was shown her body and she had already been dead for days. She was cold. Yes, I trusted the spiders. Boldgog and Baalak had been most helpful and selfless. I didn't know if Baalak would even be able to rejoin his brethren on their new world. I didn't know what had happened in Asgard's past. We had aborted Frijjo's plot, but the ancient forest was still mostly gone. It was obvious that there weren't a lot more living Aesir in our time. Something had gone wrong. Perhaps that something was Frijjo. A trip to go back and check was unavoidable. We had to audit several places to be certain Frijjo hadn't completed multiple, major, dangerous changes before meeting her death. She was more adept at navigating seid-space than any of us. She could have visited multiple times before encountering our spider sentries.

Professor Sturluson demanded clarification after clarification. What was Ve's fortress like? How did it kill? How did Frijjo make her 'kill me now' stone safe? If Frijjo could have visited many places and times in the half-day lead she had given herself, why would she go to the most obvious spot for the spiders to focus upon? What was the time of the great fire? Why didn't Frijjo free Ve? He was her first great love. Why would Frijjo choose Narcissa as the person to trip Odin's trap? Didn't that add more risk of her plot failing? If she could just grab up Narcissa, why not Adrienne and the child? What did I suppose she and Vili were doing as they waited for days in Ve's fortress, prior to our arrival? Isn't it strange that Yggdrasil convinced the fortress intelligence that only Odin or I were its true masters, and yet Odin wasn't given early warning of Vili's and Frijjo's early checkout? How could I seriously consider not continuing to Quest? It had suddenly become very interesting once again. He demanded to see the ribbon between worlds in person. Didn't I feel negligent not to have explored it? Why did I believe a transporter on the lower level of the Vanaheimer White Column cavern, which I had never seen, had transported the dark Gods, when surely, they could have just walked the ribbon-between-worlds? Did the ribbon extend to the former Unicorn world, where the dark Gods now resided? Didn't I think it important to answer that question? What would happen to the worlds of reality if seid-space were simply destroyed?

I snapped to attention. That last question had obviously originated with Tony or Stewart. That was not a Professor Sturluson type of question. He would be loathe to destroy seid-space before he had thoroughly explored it. Maybe more questions than just that one. I couldn't argue about the concern with seid. It also frightened me. If I knew that seid-space could be destroyed without harming our space, I'd do it in an instant. Some unknown character just weaving me and my friends out of existence was my greatest fear. That was why even being a good priestess could not prevent me from being pleased that Frijjo and Gna were dead. They had possessed the ability to ambush us from a world and many millennia away.

"How soon will that professor know if the body really is Narcissa?" McGonagall asked Hermione. "We must talk to Draco, tomorrow."

"Probably by the end of the day tomorrow. Yes, we must talk to Draco. The professor needs a sample from him. Draco will demand to know why."


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26 – What Happened While We Were Away**

I awoke to a message from Yggdrasil. I feared for what Odin had decided to do about Vili and how his approach had quickly gone bad. But no, Yggdrasil had chosen this time to relay the three messages that Harry had left for me while I was away. Having not yet heard them, I would have preferred to just hear the news from my husband over breakfast but feared that both Harry and Yggdrasil would be offended by that approach. Harry was still sleeping, so I told Yggdrasil to go ahead and relay the messages to me.

**These are your husband's exact words. "We were able to capture and interrogate one of the spying friends from across the pond. Lots of good news on that front. He was alone and the capture was super smooth. He was on a specific assignment for the morning, so we had him back on the street, Obliviated and Confunded, before he was missed. His assignment was to talk to the Dursleys about me. We sent an auror on Polyjuice to do exactly that. He will write an appropriate report, then Stanley, he's the agent we captured, will translate it into his own style. Meanwhile, if the friends want to check on Stanley, the closed-circuit cameras the British government uses will trace his trip to and from the Dursleys. Stanley told us where Hemerocallis and his family were vacationing, and we brought them in for an interview and Confunding. No Obliviation was required, except for knowledge of our interview. Here's the best part: Hemerocallis doesn't think either the original Harry Potter stories or those he is writing are based on real magical people or factual events. He has never met and has no idea whom the person is who is sending him the little plot summaries. He thinks the person is a British, female, university student. He says that she writes poorly for a university girl and gives him the barest character and plot descriptions. He must add a lot. He adds a whole lot, which he makes up to keep the story interesting. He met Madam Bones on the FanFiction site when she asked for a beta to help her tell her tale in a way readers would want to read to the end. He cleaned up her first five chapters, to make them read more smoothly. Really no great new secrets in any of those chapters. She then suggested that she just send him an outline or brief plot summary and he write the chapters himself. All their contacts were PMs through the site. The site is across the pond, so the friends have all those messages. They know where they were sent from. All that could be done on this end was to erase security video from that area, so that Madam Bones couldn't be identified. Special Branch did that in a way that doesn't point to wanting to remove pictures of Madam Bones. Pretty good, huh. Also, the friends suspect Roger is a bit of a fraud who has brought them old case files from a closed investigation which found no magical people. Sort of pushed them over the edge when he demanded more money for the next set of files, saying the danger had greatly increased and their keeping him longer in America made it harder for him to avoid detection. I'd say how much I miss you, but you've only been gone six hours. I will tell you that I love you more than anything and worry that you'll take too many risks. Your report was chilling. We continue to protect Adrienne and her son. Good luck and be safe. As a reminder, you have Liquid Luck and were off it long enough that it should be safe to take some more."**

**Here is the next message. I didn't know what order to put them in. "It's strange to hear you report on a dangerous mission, which you aren't actually going to begin for months. The fact that you are away on a previous mission makes your message even stranger. Of course, we'll protect Adrienne. Of course, we will protect against another invasion. Thank you for the warning. I am pleased that you are taking my request that you keep me up-dated on these adventures so seriously. When you come back from your current Questing, I will do my very best to act normal and not reveal anything about this very strange mission you have undertaken. I am not sure that's the best approach. A warning might allow you to avoid problems, just like your warning has allowed me to increase Adrienne's protections. I accept that you know better than I what will make you safest and I will prevent you from learning of the contents of this message. So, I am to be the Minister in just a few months. That is surprising and unsettling. I hope I don't take over because your father has been killed. I do both love and miss you, but I miss you because you've been away on a Quest mission for weeks in my own time. I love you. Bye. And please, please, please try harder to be safe. I'm frightened for you."**

**This is the last message. I think your husband is confused. "You don't know where or when you are, and my head is spinning. Thanks for the update. The only new thing since my last message is that Ellie wants to talk to you as soon as your return to our world. She says its important. What haven't I told you in response to your other messages? Ron is also worried. We haven't found the leak. The Lester's have met the twins and Margaret; they got along better than I could hope. I think I'm doing ok as Minister. Ron, Wood and Ellie have helped a lot. Even McGonagall has been a help. She accepted with good grace Odin's injunction that Prudence wasn't the right tutor for Steven. Neville is tutoring him for now. If Adrienne weren't in hiding, I think she'd be ideal. Just a question, maybe a gentle suggestion for you to think about: with Frijjo dead, and more or less killed by us - although you certainly shouldn't spread that around, I'm worried about the safety of your brother and Callista on Vanaheimer. Please think about that. It's only an hour since my last message. I still love you. This really is rather mind bending.**

I sensed that Harry found it awkward, as if he were over-stepping upon my territory, to bring up his concerns for Percy and Callista. I wasn't at all bothered. I also worried about them. Also, it was Harry's turf. Although Dad had appointed them as his emissaries, now that Harry was Minister, they were his emissaries and it was his duty to keep them safe. He felt about them as I felt about my Questers. That was a good thing and gave me an even warmer feeling about Harry.

I received a mental breakfast invitation from Hermione. She gave us an hour for Harry to wake up and get ready. She hadn't received the messages from Yggdrasil, so I asked it to send to her. "It's a strange series of messages. Moving back and forth in time is tough on the mind. Harry had good news about Roger and Hemerocallis. See you soon. I had hoped for an Odin message by now, but no cheer. I need something back from him before your committee meeting, or I'm not going to have good answers for some of the most obvious questions. I don't enjoy seeming that stupid. Will Dad be there?"

**Don't know. Your husband does more of the inviting than I do. I need to go.**

Hermione hadn't said anything, I simply assumed it would be just the four of us for breakfast. The addition of Cho and Viktor made sense, if the purpose of breakfast was to decide what we wanted the committee to decide prior to the meeting. I was surprised to find Andromeda and baby Teddy at the table.

Harry explained: "I invited Andromeda so you and she can reach an understanding, prior to the committee meeting. She wants to take Teddy to visit Tonks. She believes her daughter deserves to see her son. I told her that the two of you would know better about the safety and wisdom of that than Ron and me."

I had to switch into thinking mode, before my first nibble of breakfast. "It depends. Vili is now on Asgard. He tried to kidnap Adrienne and her child. If Odin has deposited his brother back in his cell, it shouldn't be a problem. Sigrun is the biggest danger, without Vili in the picture. She and Tonks have been at odds. I don't think Sigrun will bother us if we go in a group. I suspect that by now she has learned what happened to Vili and won't mess with us."

My answer pleased both Andromeda and Harry, who had Teddy in his lap. I wasn't thrilled that Harry had ambushed me but moved on to my breakfast with relatively good cheer. Honestly, I wasn't convinced of the wisdom of discussing what we needed to discuss in Andromeda's presence. She and Teddy had magical protection, plus an auror, but were far less secure than Adrienne had been, when she was nearly stolen by Vili. I don't think Andromeda could read my mind, but she turned to Harry and took back Teddy, telling us "that's the answer I wanted, now I must be going."

We spent breakfast and two more hours discussing the issues raised by Professor Sturluson. The lads were of united minds in thinking we needed to go back on Quest to answer many of those questions. We must extract as much information from Yggdrasil and the Vanir servers as we possibly could. In the end, we probably needed to make an in-force, non-Quest visit to the Village Vana. In the meantime, perhaps any entrance to seid-space from that village could be found from the seid-space side. The lads thought somebody must explore the purple ribbon which connected the worlds but wanted to join us for that exploration. I thought Harry would probably do as well as Odin in seid-space, but Ron and Viktor totally lacked a feminine side. I refrained from saying that aloud. I didn't want a fight. A trip to Venera was necessary, but not until we had learned much more about that world. I admitted that at present I knew nothing about that world apart from its name and membership in the group of Odin's worlds which had a covenant with the Light Guardian. The more I focused my thoughts upon Venera, the stranger it seemed that Yggdrasil, Odin, and the others had told me so little about that world or that I had never met a Veneran. I think Odin or Frijjo had mentioned that the Venerans were of the same basic Aesir stock as we and the Vanir. That was it.

We agreed to decide later about what to do about Venera and the Village Vana. Our focus for now must be exploring seid-space, getting a look at the 'transporter' under the shattered White Columns of Vanaheimer, finding out about Vili, and assessing what, if any, changes had been caused on modern-day Asgard by Frijjo's and our adventuring in seid-space. We also needed to bring Percy and Callista back from Vanaheimer. The Government House might quickly become a very unsafe place for emissaries from our world. Harry said it was fine to give my team a week off, but some of us needed to rescue Callista and Percy a lot faster than that. I reluctantly agreed. I had no idea what the Council would do, after they learned of Frijjo's death. I didn't think they liked or trusted her much, but Vanir honor might be requiring a response and my brother and Callista were close at hand.

"You do know that we have the Vanir ambassador at the Ministry. You even like Arce. We should consult with her right after this meeting. She is likely the best judge of how her people will react to Frijjo's death. I hedged that, because I don't regard the Keepers as super worldly."

Of course, we must speak to Arce. I had been slow. I excused myself, because I felt barely awake.

Ron, who had been a rather silent participant up until the very end surprised me, when he vehemently demanded "Harry's Minister, so he must stay home, same with Viktor, but the rest of us must sneak into Vanaheimer as soon as Hermione's committee meeting is over. I can tell that you fear Odin will allow Vili to 'escape'. Vili will run right to Vanaheimer to pick up where Frijjo left off, but he knows his way around that world and has far more contacts than Frijjo ever had. He is a threat. If we don't move quickly, while we have surprise on our side, then you won't be able to find out what you need to, and we might never be able to bring back Percy and Callista. Odin doesn't have to, and shouldn't, know what we are doing. We can travel directly through the pyramid-between-worlds to the Vanaheimer pyramid, meet with the servers and the Great Black Stone, promise our support and ask their help for a meeting with the Council at Government House. Percy and Callista will have to be at that meeting. You visit Percy quickly before the meeting, destroy what needs to be destroyed and we're ready to tie into as many Black Stones as we can to Apparate away from Government House at the first sign of trouble. If we can see the transporter, great. If Hermione and Ginny can truth-tell the members of Council, even better. If we can sell the Council and Servers on the idea of working together against the royal factions, also good. If we can leave the Vanir as friends, best of all. But however much we can't do, if things look dicey, we Apparate back to the Great Black Stone, Apparate or walk to the pyramid-between-worlds, which Harry's aurors and the rest of your Questers have well defended, and back home. It's the safest plan I can think of. This way the Servers and the Council learn from us that Frijjo is dead and Vili may soon be free. This way we have the best chance of retrieving our brother. Even if things go well, we insist that Percy and Callista must come home to sell the agreement to Harry and get instructions from our government."

We all agreed to the plan. Hermione looked very proud of Ron.

We decided that the six of us must visit Draco right away. We collected Luna and Apparated to the main entrance of Malfoy Mansion. We told Draco not to get upset with what we were about to say - the information was from Frijjo and we knew her to be a great liar. We told the tale. We told him that Hermione's professor friend could determine for certain whether the body we brought back with us was his mother. we needed a sample from him. Yes, of course he could see his mother's body. He really should wait until we knew that the body was Narcissa. It seemed improbable that she would have gone to the place where we found this body. Yes, we knew she had been missing for weeks. She had been missing in the past and turned up alive. The professor had shown Hermione how to wipe the inside of Draco's mouth with a stick to get a sample. Draco allowed Hermione to do this. Draco jumped on Hermione's statement that we expected to know whether the body was his mother by the end of the day. Luna agreed to stay with him. He was almost as upset as I expected him to be. There is no easy, painless way to deliver the news we had just given him.

If the Draco meeting was difficult for all involved, Hermione's Inter-Government Committee was a lot easier than I had feared. Dad was there. We were cordial if not warm. Everyone wanted to hear our story. There was surprise, even shock at the events in seid-space and at Ve's fortress. The return of Vili was universally recognised as the terrible news it was. The surprising thing is that everyone seemed happy to accept the plans which Ron and we had developed. It seemed that nobody else wanted responsibility for what would come next. Whatever happened would be on us, and most of the government leaders thought that was their best play. Tony gave a very uncharacteristic "I wasn't there. I can only rely upon the best advice of those who were. Captain Davies, Professor Sturluson - does this plan make sense to you?" They both agreed that it did. Boldgog promised to help us explore seid-space "before I attempt to join my family on our new world."

That was it. Dad told us "be careful and watch your backs politically." He gave all of us a hug. He hugged me as if he was unsure if he would see me again.

We went to the Ministry to meet with Arce. We told her all about the battles on her world and in seid-space. We mentioned that Vili might or might not be free soon. That was up to Odin. She was surprised but didn't seem upset or especially saddened by our news and that Frijjo was dead. "Her presence was a problem; she just assumed that it was her right to rule. that made all the factions half crazy. I think they were more violent because of that. "Vili might be more of a problem. He had secret friends among the royalty and among the opposition and Miomor's guards and police. It will be difficult to find all of his old allies."

Of course, Arce was willing to travel to Vanaheimer with us to try to broker a deal between the Keepers and the remaining members of Council. "Council isn't great, but they are a lot better than the royals. The big troubles will come from the royals and from the other Servers-without-a-circle in the Village Vana. They must be approached with great care. They have both pride and power. They are magical. I'm not aware of many others in the Village being magical, of course the railway circle may have changed that. I agree that it is best to bring Percy and Callista home for a while."

Harry looked pleased. He snogged me, wished us well, and said he needed to return to work. We went right from the meeting to the pyramid-between-worlds. It was just Ron, Hermione, Cho, Captain Davies, Aagog, Boldgog, Arce and me. Harry promised that "massive reinforcements" would be on call in the pyramid-between-worlds, if we needed help. Apart from that, we were on our own. I hadn't received a message from Odin by the time we entered Vanaheimer. I did not take that as a good sign. We had received the lab results from the professor: the body was not Narcissa. I was unsurprised that Frijjo had lied. Harry would convey the news to Draco. It was only sort-of good news. His mother was still missing and none of us had even a good idea on where to search for her. That was another problem for Harry and Wood. We were leaving too quickly to meet with Ellie. Hopefully, her important information could keep for a day.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27 – A Secret Trip To Vanaheimer**

We marched right into Vanaheimer and through the portal into the pyramid. Circe greeted us. Three of Frijjo's guards were present. I asked which of the guards was the leader of the team. The shortest of the guards raised his hand.

"I am. I'm Magical Warrior and Swordsman Leader Hy Kalin."

"Hello Hy. Things seem calm here. We have news from Asgard and need to meet with you, the Servers, and the Council. Can you come with us to Government House? We also should include Frijjo's chief aide, Mar Lev, and our ambassador, my brother Percy, and his wife Callista."

"We need as many able bodies as we can gather to guard this pyramid. Better if the Council comes to us."

"I can arrange that," Arce spoke up. "Ginny probably wants to message Terra's ambassador, herself. I'll message Government House through the Great Black Stone and invite Mar Lev and the Council members."

We met inside The Great Black Stone. All four of the Council members were present. Percy and Callista were with them. Everyone looked confused. I began the discussions with a simple statement: "Frijjo is dead. She died yesterday. She was injured in a fight far back in time on Asgard, when she tried to kill the spiders on Asgard, then she escaped, freed Vili, did we don't know exactly what for half a day, which could have stretched into months in seid-space, and was killed when she was bitten by a spider in an obscure, but very important, part of modern-day seid-space. I have seen her body. There is no question that she is dead. Odin took her body back to Asgard. If you want a funeral service on Vanaheimer, you need to quickly contact Odin. I called you together, as the non-royal contestants for power on this world, to see if there are any circumstances under which you can work together for peace on your world. Frijjo's death will be generally known quite soon and that may cause confusion and fighting, that you have a chance to avoid, or at least plan for. I also wanted to ask you if there was anything we can do to help you, or if you would prefer that we simply leave, until you form a stable new government?"

"Since you came back to Vanaheimer and called this meeting, I assume you have a solution to propose," Hy told me. "I'm not sure what to do. Does it make sense to continue to guard this pyramid? Should all of Frijjo's former supporters withdraw to Government House and defend that site?"

"I don't have a plan. That's the job of all of you. I believe it's in all your interests to defend this pyramid and to keep magic stable in your capital. I suspect that your whole world would suffer if The Great Black Stone was harmed. I hoped that the three groups, which you represent, and others in the capital which I don't even know about, can make a deal to keep this city running smoothly. Then you'll need to quickly reach agreement with those in the countryside to keep food flowing into the capital. I don't know what other factions exist. At some point you must consider the royals. I don't even know who they are or where to find them. I know Frijjo killed a lot of them. Most of those who attacked this pyramid and whom we fought at the circle beside the railroad track were those Frijjo regarded as royals, although she said she wouldn't recognise most royals, so she couldn't be certain. She killed all of those whom we stunned and captured. Close to a hundred royals must have died in those battles."

"I'm uncomfortable," Hy complained. "I'm just a soldier. Our faction should be represented by Frijjo's primary aide. I'll leave the negotiating to Ms. Lev and return to guarding the pyramid."

I admitted that I also was uncomfortable and would leave the diplomatic work to Percy. I admitted that while our government was willing to be helpful to the Vanir, I had no specific orders from our government and could represent only the Quest. We had planned to build a modern circle at Government House, but for now, maintaining political order and peace were more important. Before I could turn the meeting over to Percy, there were demands for more details about the last days of Frijjo. Hermione and I told the full story.

The chairman of Council, Wenzer Milord - not a royal, despite the name, said that it was just as well that Frijjo receive the standard Aesir funeral "she hardly still counted as Vanir."

Mar Lev took exception to this, then accepted Wenzer's apology, then admitted that with Frijjo gone, she led a small faction. Still, she wanted peace and would cooperate to work toward establishing a stable government. "If you'll have me, I'll happily take Frijjo's place on the Council. You should give the Servers a seat. That might just hold things together for now."

The Council members thought it a bad and arbitrary change to increase the size of Council by one.

"It will probably be by more than one," Arce warned them. There are other factions which must be brought into our agreement."

"I leave you to Percy," I told them. Hermione and I need to finish our examination of the White Columns and the caverns beneath them. Our government wants us back home soon, but we can plan the repairs to the columns and design the circle from home. We still need to learn how to repair the white columns. Until we do, we aren't much use to you."

Both Mar Lev and Wenzer Milord wrote 'passes' to get us past any guards outside or inside Government House. I told Percy that he had about a dozen Terran hours to work his mediation wonders, because Harry wanted us all home by the end of the day to consider our future direction and to draft a treaty with the new Vanir government, in case they desired tweaks to the old one. Percy was clearly disappointed by this news. Both Mar and Wenzer's attempts at neutral expressions failed. They would be pleased to see us gone, so that they could negotiate in their own style and at their own pace, while deciding outside of our hearing which other factions must be included.

Wenzer Milord halted our exit. "Here's your pass, but please stay for a bit more discussion. I need to get a better read on the two of you, Odin, and your intentions. An explanation of actions on our world would help. How much Terrans can help in our negotiations, the course of negotiations, and whether our people can be friends, all depend upon your answers. That is why it is important to have this discussion, before you leave, and we try to negotiate. The two of you killed many Vanir as Frijjo's ally. You were her most important fighters. Odin also killed. For the very major portion of the killing, those the three of you and your friends killed won't be missed, but they were Vanir and they were killed in Frijjo's service. Now it seems you've both saved Frijjo's life and had much to do with her death. And you delivered Vili to Odin and fear Odin will let him go free. Vili has friends on our world and they are not good people. Explain yourselves! Are you even legitimate Questers? Do you intend to build another circle for us and repair the White Columns or is that just a ruse to kill those your government thinks might be a danger to you?"

"Wow! We're starting in a deeper hole than I imagined. Yes, we truly are Questers, Odin, not Frijjo, is our trueiiisponsor. Our Quest was interfered with, to the serious detriment of my world, and I guess yours as well, by Frijjo and Vili. They improperly started the Quest, gave us false instructions at the start, and guided us to unknowingly release the worst Wizard villain in our history. We certainly intend to build another circle for you. Once we learn how to do it, we will repair your White Columns. We won't do either, unless we and our government view your world as safe. We are worried about a secret entrance to seid-space from the Village Vana. We fear that Gna used it to try to re-write your and our history. Frijjo didn't use that route to seid-space but re-wrote the history of at least three worlds. A lot of damage was done. We've tried to fix some of it and will keep working on that. If Village Vana is safe, and if we build a circle there, we certainly will search for the entry to seid-space."

I expanded on my previous account, relating both Odin's and Frijjo's account of her Quest, her 'capture' by Odin, the Vanir-Aesir war, and how Odin and we saw Frijjo's intentions at the time of her death. I told them that we were truth-tellers who had extreme difficulty determining if Frijjo had lied, but that even under the influence of Veritaserum, she consistently declared that she only wanted to help her people be truly free and magical, that she only wanted to be a parliamentary monarch for a few years to ease the transition, and that all she wanted for herself was a place to live and work productively, although to her that meant freely performing seid, without supervision by us or the presence of spiders. I admitted that I was very anxious about what I viewed as the very-overdue report from Odin on Vili's condition and fate. The other Council members and Arce had a few minor questions, but we were excused to go and examine the area around the White Columns. I had admitted Frijjo's mention of a 'transporter' on the lower level and our skepticism. I said we would destroy or repair nothing we found, prior to talking to them. The Councilwoman, who had not spoken at all, told the others that Hermione and I had told the truth.

Hermione and I didn't need to show our passes until we tried to enter the lowest chamber of the cavern system, the spot where the ruined transporter was said to be. The guards were unsure that they should admit us, but finally accepted the passes. Hermione and I looked, and we sketched. The transporter had the same upright crystals and flat, presumably message, plate, as our transporter. Perhaps more significantly, it had cracked and partially burned crystals, which bore a remarkable resemblance to the crystals on our transport after our 'accident'. The crystals were set into a six-and-a-half-foot square, probably a cube, of lodestone. They were surrounded by a circle, about as wide as I am tall, of clear quartz crystals. A stray wire, lying on the stone base strongly suggested that these crystals had been linked by a single course of silver wire. Hermione dropped an iron needle upon the stone to prove the point. We captured all this detail in our drawings.

I had a sense that this transporter could be repaired. For strategic political reasons, we hadn't even attempted to repair our transporter, but I was quite sure that Hermione and I could do the job. This was another technical question to resolve with Yggdrasil. Hubris regarding such matters can prove deadly. There were runes on two of the walls. Hermione copied them on two drawings. I looked for and didn't find the control booth I expected to be present. That was one big difference from out transporter. Not only would we need to repair this transporter, if we had any hope of using it, we also would have to figure out how and from where to operate it. The runes probably explained all of that.

We moved on to study the level above the transporter. This is where Miomor's inverted circle had stood. The bases of shattered crystals, perhaps half of the crystals in the circle, were still embedded in the ceiling. We drew what we saw, in case we needed this knowledge for future reference. I had no intention of rebuilding this circle. Before coming here, I had pondered the necessity and danger of our destroying this circle - with Council's permission, of course. The damage was so severe that this wouldn't be required. Even the lodestone, which started at the floor of this chamber and went through the floor of the chamber with the tops of the White Columns, was missing big chunks. How could the bomb have caused this much damage? It didn't seem possible.

Hermione had a theory: "the circle itself must have exploded. The surviving dark God mentioned that two of his fellow gods died when trapped inside the dying circle. Perhaps they were in the lodestone, somehow, and this damage is what the death of an extremely weakened dark God looks like."

Thinking one of the professor-friends might be able to better explain what had happened here, I made careful drawings of the damage to the lodestone, what the major pieces blown off looked like and exactly where they had landed. Hermione and I did the same for the bottoms of the White Columns and the pieces newly blown off them. We tried to capture what we felt was damage from our bomb to the walls of this middle cavern. I lacked the knowledge to understand how much damage our bomb should have done, but told Hermione "Just my stupid opinion, but I think our bomb wasn't the only explosion down here."

"I agree. At least two explosions. Maybe three. Uncle knows a professor friend who can help us. I think we've done all that we can do here."

We returned to the Council chambers to see how well the negotiations were going and to tell Percy that he had only one more hour, in orderto be gone as quickly as Harry wanted.

"I think we are making extraordinarily good progress, but your presence won't help, and I need more than an hour. You must ask Harry for three more hours. I know you don't do at all well, when you are hungry. One of these guards will lead you to food."

Was I that transparent? I didn't feel overly guilty as I observed that all the negotiators had heaped plates of food in front of them. Hermione and I allowed ourselves to be led to the official dining room, where we had eaten with Frijjo. The Councilwoman who had said we spoke the truth, rather than one of the guards, led us there and sat with us. Callista also joined us. The Councilwoman announced in a clear, commanding voice "I had better still have my Council seat, when I return."

The Councilwoman ordered food from an Elf, who appeared as soon as we sat down. She wryly commented. "You have just observed one of the fundamental aspects of Vanir society and the biggest reason Frijjo would not have been accepted as even what you described a parliamentary monarch to be. The acceptable role of women in leadership positions is severely circumscribed. Miomor was barely tolerated by half the population. Vili made political inroads among my people by opposing Miomor and swearing he opposed his brother and his brother's wife. Of course he lied. He supported Frijjo. Mar and I are the highest-ranking Vanir females. Mar has little influence and I am accepted because of my truth-teller skills. I guess the Servers are equally powerful and esteemed, but they are commonly viewed as religious figures, who must absent themselves from political struggles. I hope that your presence leads to some change. I think my fellow Council members want your help and want to maintain good relations with your world. That is just a little wedge, but it might be able to force some change."

The food was excellent. The Councilwoman, Mara Smid, was totally honest with us, as well as either Hermione or I could determine with our truth-teller skills. I thought she saw us as friends of the Vanir and possibly as her future allies.

We were just beginning our dessert, which was a pastry based upon nuts, dried fruits, lots of honey, and spirits I hoped weren't wood alcohol. I trusted this woman, so I didn't test with my wand. I had eaten only two bites, when I received a message from Odin.

**I know you are worried by the delay. It took some considerable time to repair Vili and then I had trouble locating you. Vili and I have talked. He allowed me to return him to his cell for now, although he says he will not be happy with another prolonged stay. He wants to replace me when I leave Asgard. I'm not convinced that I should allow that. More discussion is needed. Of course, he blames Frijjo's bad influence for most of his actions. He is adamant that he did the right thing with Adrienne. He told me the prophecy he seeks to follow. I will tell you all when next we meet. I promise not to release Vili before then.**

I relayed this news to my companions, and we headed back to the meeting. Oops! I stopped and hastily contacted Harry. Harry told me that he must trust Percy and that of course he would give him several more hours, if Percy felt it was both important and safe. I told Harry that I couldn't be totally certain but was convinced that it was safe. We stayed several more hours. Percy mediated for a couple of hours and then the group wanted to quiz us on what we had discovered. I told them the truth: there was a transporter in the lower chamber; it was broken; it probably was reparable; we would have to practice on our broken transporter before attempting to fix theirs - if they even wanted it fixed; we hadn't discovered anything looking like the sort of control area which was associated with our transporter. Also, it looked like our bomb wasn't the only explosion which damaged this area, although we wouldn't have a conclusion until we showed our drawings to the British experts. I also relayed Odin's message about Vili.

"We thank you for your honesty," Wenzer told me. We said our goodbyes, promising to return when we could, and were gone.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28 Reporting What We Learned**

My Questers had the week off and so did I. Harry greeted us on our return. I was about to give Harry a brief report, when Ron spoke up. "We should meet at the Ministry first thing tomorrow. There's a lot to report and discuss; you have decisions to make; but everything went well – Percy, Hermione and Ginny all did great. I think Percy and Callista can go back, after our meeting and consultations."

Harry pronounced that "great news!" Had Ron slipped into the role of Harry's Shacklebolt? Would that be such a bad thing if he had?"

We returned to our house and straight to bed. A quick romp and then a very deep sleep. I was totally exhausted. Who knew that drawing could be such hard work? Well, drawing while never knowing if guards were suddenly going to show up behind you and start firing curses. I had been totally revved and on watchful alert the whole time we were on Vanaheimer. It takes a toll.

We met in Harry's conference room at the Ministry. A decent breakfast was supplied. The cast of characters was a bit of a surprise. Of course there were the four of us, plus Percy and Callista, but also Cho, Viktor, McGonagall, Shacklebolt, Wood, Ellie, Neville and his mother, Tony, Stewart, Mrs. Toms, Professor Sturluson, Hermione's 'uncle', Baalak, King Gobbledygook, Cotto, Firenze, Unstaad, and Aagog. The room was full. Harry got right to business.

"Well Percy, did you get us an acceptable deal? Do we have friends on Vanaheimer?"

"I'm convinced we have friends we can work with. The negotiations went amazingly well. I think we can work with the Council and the Servers. The Councilpersons are elected, you know. The remnants of Frijjo's group will go along. Mar Lev seemed reasonable and says she can speak for the group. It is a very small group. The strongest group in the capital is what's left of Miomor's police and guard. The Council will meet with their leaders today. They are military organisations, so what the leaders agree likely will stand. Frijjo and the Questers considerably weakened the royals. They're in hiding for now. I don't know how much of a threat they will be. They are truly hated by the groups I negotiated with and those groups say that the Miomor loyalists are also anti-royalist. It will be next to impossible to compromise with the royalists. They believe a royal must be the absolute ruler." He then repeated the words of Arti, which I had conveyed to Council.

"Callista and I have done what we can do for now. We must wait and see what Council and the Servers can achieve. Ginny was correct, keeping food flowing from the countryside to the capital is a very big problem. It should be okay until Odin's gold and silver are spent. That is just a month away. They seem willing to have the Questers return to Vanaheimer to help them restore the magic. The Servers confirmed Ginny's version of events that Frijjo, not the Questers, was responsible for almost all the deaths and that the Questers fought in self-defense. She reported how Frijjo and Ginny argued about Frijjo's slaughter of the captives. None of those I met with were very upset about the deaths of the royals. They called Ginny's recitation of Arti's words 'all too typical of our royals. They just want us to submit.' They are not interested in closer ties with Odin. The Vanir people still view him as largely villain. When Ginny returns, she is requested to bring no spiders larger than Aagog and no bombs."

My initial reaction was severe agitation. I did not appreciate all the cautions and critiques of our Quest from Percy. Then again, perhaps he jumped up to tell the tale of the negotiations, because I had infringed upon his prerogatives as ambassador. He had been chosen by Dad, not by my husband. Perhaps that also was a sticking point. I decided my best approach was just to smile and let it pass and not get wrapped up in rebelling against the Vanir's view of the proper role of females. Callista had more difficulties in that regard than I did. I led the Quest and had a very tight relationship with the Servers. I didn't know what resources Callista had available, beyond her intelligence.

I wasn't side-lined for long. Tony demanded a detailed accounting of all Hermione and I had observed and done. Even though his request was a tad abrupt, I welcomed it. Was I that starved for attention and validation? It did seem strange that Harry never asked me whom I thought had to be at the meeting and who couldn't be there if he expected us to answer all the questions put to us. Had he discussed the attendee list with Percy?

Hermione and I took turns telling the tale. It took an hour. It then took another hour to answer detailed questions from all present. Professor Sturluson once again was not bashful about asking questions. Some of the questions were worded as barely-veiled accusations, such as, "Wouldn't it have been better to have your mythology expert on the front-lines more frequently? As you know a bird did choose me. I think Odin likes me. Why are we waiting to inspect what Frijjo may have done in seid-space?"

That one had an easy answer: "I felt this group needed to know what we know as quickly as possible, so that we can take their advice. As you know, we can return to that section of seid-space days, weeks, years, or millennia prior to today's date. And yes, I realise how freaking scary that is when I say it like that."

Of course, that led to more questions, many having to do with the possible placement and use of bombs. Percy and I both strongly rejected the suggestion of carrying bombs. That would be and certainly would be seen as both a sign of weakness and an action of extreme bad faith. I proposed that the time had come to plan how we might repair our transporter. We also needed to consider the wisdom of repairing the Vanir's transporter and figuring out how to command it. This produced a cacophony of largely objections as 'way too dangerous' as well as encouragement from the usual persons who still wished to visit another world.

"I said start to think about, not to immediately do. We must find out what we can learn from Yggdrasil and Odin, before we stumble into a serious error. There is another thing to discuss in that regard. I mentioned the purple God-ribbon, and the supposed existence of an intersecting ribbon which connected to other worlds, but nobody focused upon that. I said that they must be guarded and explored. Exploration could be extremely dangerous. We must go in force. We must do this soon. The Acromantula can be our allies in this venture. Seid-space is far more their natural terrain than ours."

From their expressions, I could tell that neither Harry nor Tony had missed the significance of the purple ribbons. They apparently hadn't commented or questioned me on that point, because they didn't want this large a group for that conversation. Not my fault, guys, I didn't pass out the invites. My reading of their purpose was confirmed, when Harry mildly commented "we can't check everything all at once. Frijjo's edits or possible edits in our seid-space are the immediate issue. We can take this up later." I got a stare which punctuated that statement: take that up...LATER!

Of course, Baalak volunteered to help, saying he was willing to delay his departure to the spiders' new world, as needed. We all thanked him and that put that topic to rest. Baalak, supported by Aagog, discoursed on the friendliness, loyalty, and lack of danger to us from the spiders. I thought they did well and were sufficiently wise to fall silent, before they laid it on so thick that skeptics of spider motives, or those simply alarmed by their size and fearful of their bite, would jump to the conclusion that they were deceitfully trying to lull us into an overly generous trustfulness. I knew that Frijjo and Ron weren't the only persons with an inborn fear and loathing of giant spiders. It had taken my acquaintance with Aagog and her sister to quash my initial fear and allow me to see them as good friends.

Baalak wanted to meet with the spiders of the Forbidden Forest cave, pay homage to the cave, and, in general, see in person the tribe born from her eggs. She wanted to meet Hagrid and to say a few prayers at the grave of Aragog. Aagog and I agreed to transport her to the cave, after the meeting was over.

The meeting ended well. In fact, it ended very well. King Gobbledygook had finally thought of a Goblin technology, which would make my Questers safer and possibly even make us more proficient at the magical engineering work we still needed to accomplish. He produced an instrument of very shiny brass on its outer structure, with a trio of clear crystals suspended from silver wires inside the brass. There was a green crystal at the very top, much smaller than the clear ones. It looked like a cross between the Goblin tool for tuning magical circles and the Beauxbatons' instrument we used to determine whether either of the putative Joan d'Arc rings held residual magic.

"This is the finest instrument we Goblins can produce for the detection of magic. It should also reveal the locations of the ribbons you follow through seid-space and allow you to find any hidden entrance on Vanaheimer. We Goblins have met former Minister Weasleys' challenge to provide valuable technology to aid the Quest. This device can also be used to identify magical objects and even individuals with the ability to perform magic. It is our hope that it will be able to detect lies from the Gods and Goddesses, although we had no way to test that. We give you five of these, if you return to Quest in a week. This and our daughters are the Goblin contribution. I apologise again for my past errors."

He then demonstrated one of the advantages of this new design: it could be oriented in any direction. The Beauxbatons ' device had thinner wires and had to be held vertically. "I can't know this without experimenting on a God or Goddess, but I suspect that this device will aid in truth-telling one, such as Frijjo or Vili. I assume that to evade your truth-telling and Veritaserum, they must perform strong magic. This device should detect that spurt of magic when they lie. It is at least worth a try."

I thanked and hugged King Gobbledygook. It sounded as though this new tool could be a great help to the Quest. Anything new, which Odin, Vili, and the Vanir hadn't already considered could prove a very useful surprise, if whipped out at the proper time. The other attendees also congratulated the king, and on that happy note, the meeting broke up. Well, the meeting almost broke up. Tony and Mrs. Toms wanted to discuss the problem of the friends across the pond. This part of the meeting was limited to Tony, Stewart, Mrs. Toms, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Shacklebolt, Mrs. Longbottom, Viktor, and me. Others wanted to stay. Tony had to point to the door to get Professor Sturluson to leave. When the door was finally closed Harry announced "our plan has worked great, so far. We need to plan the next steps. We can't expect everything to go this well in future.:

"No, we can't! We've been very lucky," Tony underlined Harry's statement. "The friends across the pond have withdrawn half of the extra agents they sent to investigate the mysterious magical people present in our society. However, the bear has joined the investigation, so our farce must continue. The friends are speaking to Hemerocallis as we speak. I trust that will go well. He certainly has been very well prepped and has no memory of that prepping. His future stories will be totally from his imagination, if your Madam Bones keeps the promises she has made. We've bought a little time, perhaps only a very little time. That brings me to the need to plan for what to do in the event of a major loss of secrecy. I want to speak to the ICW and explain the difficulties of maintaining strict secrecy. I know that Harry and others from your government plan to visit ICW headquarters in a week. I'm sure you'll make a very logical and forceful case for what must be done, but whatever you say cannot possibly have the same impact as a formal address by members of a non-Magical government. I also think you miss a major opportunity in not including French and German Wizards in your delegation. They are less hidden than your citizens. You also must take your wife, Hermione and Cissy Montaigne to that meeting. They move in nonmagical circles better than you do. I believe that the other magical societies on our world must be let in on the secret of the other magical worlds. Ginny can take them there. One last thing: Professor Sturluson wants to visit seid-space; so, do I. Please make the necessary arrangements."

That ended the meeting on a gob smacking note. Harry began a bumbling response, but Tony told him: "best to think about it for a day, or a week, and get back to me before the Quest resumes. It's not as big a step as you think. The worst members of the foreign communities have met Odin. Introduce him to the best. I'll see you soon."

Hermione and I Apparated Baalak and Aagog to Hagrid's hut. I was thrilled to see Fang walk out of the new hut, albeit with a slow, halting walk, to join Hagrid in greeting us. Fang was noticeably friendlier than normal to Hermione and me, but very wary of Baalak. Hagrid declared himself 'fit as new. Madam Pomphrey, and of course you and Hermione, fixed me." He led us to Aragog's grave. I could hear Baalak's thoughts in my mind. I heard a repeat of many of the anguished thoughts for a lost child, which I heard from parents after the Battle of Hogwarts. On a whim, I said a traditional Light Guardian prayer for a lost child. Both Aragog and Baalak were beings out of time. Profound grief from a spider present in a world many millennia after she should have died, on a world where her kind were never meant to be. On a whim, I asked Hagrid if he could hear Baalak's thoughts.

"Always could hear the spiders, even when Aragog were no bigger than yer hand. Of course, Baalak must meet her children. She is where my egg came from. It is honor to meet Aragog's Mum."

We met each spider in the colony. They called Baalak 'the great one' and 'the beginning'. I took the opportunity to count the spiders. There were sixteen adults, twenty older juveniles who were bigger than Aagog, six Aagog-sized, and sixteen smaller than her. Fewer than I would have guessed, although probably half of the clan were now on Asgard or in seid-space. Introductions complete, Baalak asked to be Apparated to Asgard to meet the other half of our Acromantula clan. She asked our spiders if they missed their nest mates on other worlds. "Yes," Aagog's mother answered him, "It is a great comfort that we are at least able to exchange mental messages. I don't know how I would have coped, with Aagog off on a dangerous Quest to other worlds, if I didn't have that link to know she was alive and safe."

Wow! How was that even possible? Unless... could the Acromantula tie into the Black Stones and use them to communicate between worlds?

As Aagog spoke to her mother, and her mother commented back to her, I trained the Goblin device on their heads. It lit up. Magic was happening. I scanned the cave with the device to see if other spiders were talking magically. They were. But... a lot more interesting. There was a bright spot at the rear of the cave. I lowered the device as I heard a cacophony of spider talk, much of it in alarmed pitch – at least that's how it seemed. I did sometimes pick up emotion from Aagog, but this was an overpowering surge.

"I thought too much of secrets," Aagog's mother confessed.

"Don't worry. Ginny is friend."

"Yes, I am." I spoke back to the assembled spiders. "I promise to mostly keep your secret. I am obliged to mention this to Odin, Harry, and Ron... beyond that it is our shared secret. It is a useful skill. I think it can help all of us. It makes you seem even more magical, which is a good thing."

"Good!" Aagog's mother told me.

"Ginny, Hermione, Odin and Questers are very good friends to us." Baalak told Aagog's mother, at shout volume, such that the entire cave of spiders could hear him. "Ginny saved all of us. Every one of us, now and very long ago. She help my brothers and sisters reach new spider world."

I knew they knew that I must have seen it, so I wasn't going to pretend otherwise: "That bright spot at the back of your cave – that's some sort of link or portal to seid-space, isn't it?"

"Yes. It allows us to speak with our brothers and sisters on Asgard and in seid-space."

"It's new. I think I would have spotted it, if it was here, when I borrowed your stones."

"We didn't need such a strong link before our brothers and sisters traveled beyond. Before, it was weaker God-link."

"Ahh. You must tell me about the God-link tomorrow."

"Would you like to examine the link."

"Please!"

Aagog and her mother led me to the back of the cave. Baalak followed us. I'm not a fool. I knew this might be a dangerous trap. I trusted Aagog and her clan. Still, I fully tied into the Black Stone. I sensed Hermione doing the same. I also sensed that Hagrid was totally unworried. This calmed me. I could be as brave and trusting as Hagrid. Still, I left a 'do nothing, but... this is the situation' message for Harry.

I raised the Goblin device to examine the bright spot at very close range. It was glowing less intensely than before. The glow was a circle, about two feet across, on the side of the lodestone. I tried to talk to and through this glowing spot. As I did this, the spot brightened. I thought harder, asking Hermione to help. The spot was brighter still.

**You seek advice from me?**

Yggdrasil! "I didn't know you were in regular communication with our spiders here on Terra."

**I help all creatures who think and do good. That is my order. **

"Thanks. I was just testing a link. It clearly works for me. I assume I can speak to the spiders through you and this lodestone. Why didn't you tell me that?"

**You didn't ask and you have greater freedom of access now. Odin gave that order.**

To the spiders: "You talk to Yggdrasil through the lodestone. How long have you done this?"

"As long as my people remember."

"Thank you very much! I didn't know at the time what a huge sacrifice your clan made, when you allowed us to borrow this stone for our Quest. If I had known just how great a sacrifice you made, I would have found some other way to get a lodestone. This truly is a sacred stone."

"You understand."

"Can I travel through this stone?"

"We don't know. We cannot do travel through it."

"I think you must be able to learn to travel through the Black Stones. Do I have permission to try to teach your daughter?"

"Yes."

We left the cave with Aagog riding in her customary spot upon my shoulders. "I am pleased we are all safe. Aagog was worried. All of my brothers and sisters obey Baalak" she whisper-thought to me.

"At least for now," Baalak whisper thought to both of us. "I will sleep in cave tonight. Tomorrow is soon enough to travel to Asgard."

Aagog came home with me. Harry took a quick look at Aagog, but plowed ahead: "What's the problem? I sensed it had something to do with the spiders. Aagog is still with you, so it can't be that bad."

"I think Frijjo's anti-spider attitude has the Acromantula worried that more of the off-spring of Asgard will turn against them. That might include us, as well as the Aesir and Vanir. They know that their size and appearance can make them inherently frightening as adults. It seems almost an inbred, instinctual fear in many, although Ron had that fear and overcame it. I've had nothing but good experiences with the spiders. Yes, a spider killed Frijjo, but the spider was guarding a vital spot in seid-space, which I asked her to guard. I'm not sure more than a handful of beings are truly sorry that Frijjo is dead. She betrayed so many of us, was extremely arrogant and ambitious, and tried to totally wipe out the spiders. She was angry they excluded her from seid-space, which is exactly what we asked them to do. She was extremely dangerous there and we have evidence of her treachery. I should have killed Frijjo, or at least allowed her to die of her injuries, but I was trying too hard to be a good Mother and Priestess. The spider sentry, whose name I don't even know, merely did what very badly needed doing, but she is big and scary looking, so..."

"Obligog!"

I turned to look at Aagog, who was sitting in the middle of one of our kitchen chairs.

"The spider's name is Obligog. Ginny is correct. She just did her duty. Ginny gave instructions."

"Okay, but what just happened at the spider cave?"

"I discovered a big secret and for a moment they were afraid that they couldn't trust me. They fear an attempt to wipe them out. They still feel guilty and vulnerable because they were tricked/persuaded/forced to help Voldemort attack Hogwarts. A Death Eater disguised as Hagrid appealed to them. The Giant king asked their support. A Death Eater Polyjuiced as McGonagall cursed them. They were fooled and they are very sorry. They made a tremendous sacrifice giving up their holy stones to help my Quest. Here is the secret you can't share with anybody else. Just you, me, Ron, Hermione, and Odin: the spiders can talk to Yggdrasil through their holy lodestone at the back of their cave. They can speak through Yggdrasil to the spiders on Asgard and in seid-space. I didn't ask, but I assume they can or will become able to communicate with the spiders on spider world. Baalak has assured them that I, that we, are friends. I think everything is fine. I know that you worry about me, but I really do believe everything is going to be alright with the spiders."

"Okay, I trust your judgment. I got the impression at the meeting that you were starting to doubt my judgment."

"I didn't understand why you didn't consult me on the attendees list for that meeting, asked me to give a full report, and then got upset about part of what I reported to that group. If you had said not to mention that, I surely would not have mentioned it. I would have preferred a much smaller meeting, where we could jointly decide how much to tell which specific individuals. Preferably just a four-person meeting."

"I had less than full choice about the meeting membership."

"You did for that meeting, but the two of us, or the four of us, could have decided what to say prior to that meeting. You can't order me to play back everything we learned on Quest and then object to what is included in that everything. I would have happily given you a complete private report. I sent all the important stuff to you before I returned home. If something was sensitive, you should have said so. You knew about the purple ribbon."

Harry glanced at Aagog, then said something to the effect of 'we shouldn't fight in front of the children."

We said good night to Aagog, who said she would sleep on the kitchen chair, and went off to our bed. No romp! There clearly were lingering tensions from the meeting. Harry rolled on his side, so that our heads touched, and he could very faintly secret whisper to me. "Sorry about the meeting. I would have whispered to you if I realised in advance that there were very sensitive topics. Tony can over-react. I should consult with you on the list of attendees. It was your report. It's just, I think Ron and I and others recognized, in the instant you said it, that what you said about seid-space and the God-ribbon meant that we would have to find a way to defend seid-space forever. That is a huge undertaking. I have no idea how we can do it. I think we also realised just how much future power over us we have ceded to the spiders. I wish I could trust them as much as you do. I have no reason to distrust them, although I do still remember and have nightmares about the Battle of Hogwarts. You are more familiar with them than I am. I do trust your judgment. I also do worry. Now I must figure out how I can keep the other leaders from becoming so worried about the spiders and seid-space that our whole alliance falls apart, while calming my own fears. It's going to be tough. I think Aagog and Baalak hold the key. I have one lingering fear that I've barely thought about all these years; it just popped into the front of my mind: we've had a thriving colony of Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest since before I came to Hogwarts - what have they been eating?"


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29 – Exploration and Explanation**

"I never thought of that. I assume they forage. On Asgard, the spiders hunted deer, small creatures like our rabbits and mice, as well as birds. I've read enough of the Harry Potter books to know what an awful time you and Ron had during your first visit to the Aragog cave. Hagrid innocently walked you, fully trusting him, into a deadly trap. He failed to think how the spiders would react to two unknown students in their cave, without Hagrid. I think you and Ron have done very well in setting your fears aside and beginning to trust the spiders. You've made considerable progress. They are fellow members of the Covenant, so you need to keep working on getting the past truly behind you."

"May I intrude?"

"Yes, it's fine for her to come in," Harry softly messaged me in our formerly secret whisper mode.

I observed that Aagog both heard this thought and took it as mutual permission. She was already entering the room, when I thought back "of course you may," to her.

"My brother and sisters know that they make mistakes with Harry Potter and Ron. They are very sorry. They now see you as friends and not harm you. We eat larger insects, birds, and rabbits from the Forbidden Forest. Bigger spiders travel beyond Forbidden Forest to hunt deer and big birds. It is big effort. We make big mistake in supporting Voldemort. Hagrid tell us he be bad. We were tricked. Dementors also were tricked. We worry about price Dementors must pay for that trickery and old loyalty to Slytherin. They not even like Slytherin. He force them to obey. You can trust spiders. I sleep on your bed many nights and not harm you."

"I know," Harry conceded. "I know that my thinking is driven by old fears. I really like and trust you; I accept you as Ginny's friend. At gut level, I see you as different from the big spiders. I admit that I also really like Baalak. Maybe it's because she's a spider from another world and I don't link her with my first experience in your cave. That was more frightening to the very young me, than were my encounters with Voldemort."

"I know just little part of story. Please tell me all that you remember."

Harry told the tale in surprisingly detail. Even retelling this story from years ago, the fear slipped into his voice. I didn't detect a loathing of the spiders, but the old fear was still very real. Harry was incredibly lucky to be alive. How could Dad's old Muggle car have been so smart and capable of saving Harry and Ron. I thought my brother and husband incredibly brave to be as accepting and calm around the spiders as they were.

"Thank you. Aagog understand much better now. Yes, you are very brave. Yes, you try very hard to be fair and kind to spiders and not be fear person. We must all work together to be friends. I am becoming bigger spider. In a few years I be much bigger and have my own little spider child. I hope that you still trust me, and we still be friends."

"We will be," I promised Aagog.

After Aagog left us, Harry and I were so much on the same page, argument fully behind us, that we each felt a romp was called for. Glorious. I slept well and Odin waited until our daybreak to message me.

**We must talk in person. I have many things I must tell you. Can your Quest team come to Asgard today?**

"No. I gave them a week of badly needed vacation. A few of us could come, but we can't stay long."

**I don't wish to impose, but I must see you today. I will be in your pyramid at your noon. I hope that is satisfactory. It is what must be, so I offer no apology.**

I messaged Hermione at once. She was listening to the message as I reached her. "The four of us must meet. Breakfast at my house in an hour."

I gave Harry another half hour of sleep as I said good morning to Aagog and took a leisurely bath, using my wand to make the water as hot as I could stand.

"What is great excitement?" Aagog asked me, after I awakened Harry.

I said only "Odin comes at noon." That was enough for Aagog to recognise the significance. I grabbed a pile of minced meat from the icebox and presented it to her on a plate. She wolfed it down.

Aagog asked if she could join us for the meeting with Hermione and Ron. While I thought, Harry told her that she was welcome to join us.

"Do you think he wants to push up the schedule for releasing Vili?" Ron asked. I told him that, as far as I knew, this was not a scheduled event and that I very much hoped that it remained unscheduled.

"It must be some sort of serious trouble," Harry was as worried as Ron was.

We discussed whether it made sense for Odin to meet with the ICW and offer a visit to Asgard and, perhaps, Vanaheimer. Harry thought this an excellent idea and wanted to fetch Tony.

"Not until we hear what Odin has to say! But other than that, it is a good idea. I want just the four, five, of us to be the first to hear Odin and be able to decide what to do next, with none of our options precluded by Tony's advance knowledge. He pushes very hard for what he wants.

"Speaking of which, we need to talk about all of the magical and non-magical males who demand to visit seid-space," Hermione looked straight at Harry, letting him know he was included in that group. "Have you considered what a catastrophe it would be if Tony or you died there. Governments in turmoil, very difficult explanations to be made - that's a huge risk. For what? Males have a very difficult time doing seid. Non-magical males have no chance at all. I like Tony, but it horrifies me to be responsible for Tony as he blunders his way through seid-space. What would we do if he decided to step off the ribbon? I have no idea whether he could get back on, even with our help. We've never tested that with a non-magical male, so let's just go right ahead and experiment with the Prime Minister. Because he wants to adventure? Not nearly good enough. We have no idea what mischief Frijjo was up to. There could be very devious traps that we are unable to detect before it's too late. It will be more dangerous for everyone if we must protect you and Tony. Really, I worry less about taking Professor Sturluson. Somehow, he seems more… expendable."

Harry was obviously taken aback. "I don't want to make you and Ginny less safe. We don't have to go on the first, or even the second trip to seid-space. We certainly don't need to go to the way-back-in-time area of seid-space, where Frijjo is most likely to have laid her traps."

"Fine."

"Fine."

This was clearly the least fine 'fine' I had experienced in months. I shared Hermione's reluctance to be a tour guide but wished she had been gentler with Harry. We finished breakfast in silence. When I finished eating, I felt the pressure to break the silence.

"We need to return to way-back-in-time Yggdrasil. It should be safe to bring Captain Davies and Boldgog home. Barb and Cissy also are stranded with them. We need to decide how many we must bring with us, to be safe."

Apart from "of course Baalak will come with us' this led to a long and inconclusive discussion.

We were inside the pyramid well ahead of Odin's arrival, so that we could chat with and encourage the pyramid defenders. Guarding the pyramid could be a boring, uncomfortable, and nearly thankless duty... so we made sure to thank the guards. Hermione brought a big basket of home-baked muffins. Ellie was a part of the guard, for some unknown-to-me reason. Odin arrived, with just his ravens, and we immediately spirited him away to Harry's office. Harry dropped one of his personal aurors into the pyramid guard shift and asked Ellie to come with us. We also brought Baalak and Aagog.

"An interesting group," Odin commented, as we arranged ourselves in the conference room. "Seeing Baalak, I guess you will be making a quick trip back to ancient Yggdrasil. It is fine that Baalak is here. The spiders are part of what I want to talk about. I have confirmed that Spider World exists and has a population of almost ten thousand spiders. I also know that there is an alternate 'Aesir-saved-from-the-great-fire' Asgard world. So, two more worlds in my realm inhabited by intelligent beings. Isn't that wonderful? That means the seid-changes we made in our trip back in time had an effect. I did a little on my own to provide that path to alternate Asgard. There are now almost twenty thousand Aesir living upon that world. I want to bring them back to Asgard but thought I should speak to you first."

"That's a bad idea," Hermione replied. "So many things can go wrong on a world housing an advanced society. Better to have a spare world up and running. I do think you need to do what we did with the Centaurs - bring some of the otherworld Aesir to your world to expand the gene pool and reduce your in-breeding. You and they have a lot in common and can learn from each other. It should be very interesting and helpful to know where the path chosen by those old Aesir differs from the Asgard path. Of course, having visited them, you know that and can tell us."

"I take your point. No, I haven't visited, although I want to. I want you to come with me. Yggdrasil told me yesterday. Remember I had said we should keep any Aesir we saved elsewhere for a year into the future. Yggdrasil got the time a little wrong, or perhaps got it right and decided I need the rest of that year to prepare to deal with the descendants of those we saved. It's a great responsibility. Here is the interesting part: the new world of the ancient Aesir has a Black Stone. It is a habitable world, upon which the Light Guardian, or an even older God, seeded a Black Stone, a Stone to lie in waiting until it was required. Even Yggdrasil did not know that this Black Stone existed. I don't even know how that is possible. Those ancient Aesir are in communication with their new Black Stone. They have been for thousands of your years. I haven't been this excited in a very long time."

"That is quite astonishing news," I agreed.

"But wait... there's more. Most of the Aesir on Asgard who were unable to perform magic are now magical. I think that must be due to the Unicorn herd."

"And the spiders," Baalak spoke for the first time.

"Of course!" Hermione shouted. "It's the natural magical eco-system. Just like we've been told by the Light Guardian that the survival of all our magical communities is required for the health of magic, the same must be true for Asgard and the other inhabited worlds. Your world formerly held spiders. The great fire eliminated them. The return of both the Unicorns and the Acromantula should have been expected to improve magic. They were the missing pieces, during the time of Asgard's dwindling. Asgard is a magical world returned to health. We must research if there were Acromantula on Vanaheimer. Apart from the Unicorns, which have been re-established, what other magical peoples formerly existed there. Did they have Goblins?"

"That was a very long time ago. They may well have had Goblins. We should be on our way if we are to travel back in time. I'll tell you Vili's prophecy during our journey.

Harry quickly jumped in to ask Odin about addressing the ICW, probably in two days' time. He also asked about tours for leaders of the other thinking communities of Terra to Asgard and any other worlds which were feasible.

"Fine, we shall return in time for that."

We were on our way, taking Ellie with us. I wanted her to see seid-space and the very distant past.

I apparated us to the pyramid-between-worlds; we walked out the portal onto Asgard, and Yggdrasil sucked us into its belly.

As we sat in the library, Odin told the story of Vili's prophecy. "Vili had this prophecy as a waking dream, while sitting in my command chair inside Valaskjalf. He swears that he was completely sober and fully rested. He seemed surrounded by a glowing haze, then saw in my viewing mirror an image of himself holding a young male child. When the mother spoke to her child, the language was English, but mother, child, and Vili were in the throne room within Valaskjalf. Vili sat upon my throne. Vili swears that a voice within his head declared 'this child shall be the greatest Aesir. He shall mold worlds. He shall save all the Aesir. Not demi-God, or minor God, but full-God to rival the ancient Gods of Aesir. His mother will travel to Valaskjalf on Quest. You must guarantee that she leaves with your child. The future of all the Aesir lies in your hands, and other parts.' That's it. I tested my brother for truthfulness and am convinced that he did not lie. That isn't to say he wasn't half mad and simply hearing voices of his own creation. He believes. He almost makes me believe."

"That's quite a story. I doubt it is enough to persuade Adrienne to surrender her son. My people and I remain committed to do whatever are necessary to defend mother and child."

"I didn't expect that you would say otherwise. I will not force the issue and I am inclined to keep Vili in his cell. A prophecy must unroll of its own volition. That is how a true prophecy is separated from the many false ones. Technically, and this is very important, Vili's vision is not part of the prophecy. Only the words count. They are subject to a range of interpretation. They must work their own magic. I can see Adrienne's son fulfilling his prophecy and being reared on Terra. Actually, that's how I interpret the exact words of prophecy 'You must guarantee that she leaves with your child.' Those words don't say that Adrienne and her child must be kept on Asgard. My brother foolishly bent the words of his own prophecy, because he is besotted with the lovely Adrienne. Such foolishness is a big reason why he must remain in his cell. He no longer thinks clearly. He desires Adrienne, but he has only caused her to fear and hate him. Now, shall we ask Yggdrasil to send us on our way?"

Yggdrasil reminded me what I must ask the very young Yggdrasil, wished us luck, and whisked us to the path which led from the God-ribbon to ancient Yggdrasil.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30 – Another Formal Introduction?**

As we fast-marched to the point where we could Apparate into the parlor of ancient Yggdrasil, we passed well-positioned spider sentries. Baalak greeted each very warmly, giving an odd-looking, four-legged hug to each, while assuring them that their seemingly endless and boring job was vital – one of their fellows had prevented Frijjo from doing who knows how much trouble. Aagog, Hermione, and I greeted each of the sentries. Aagog leapt upon their backs for a purely mental sharing of information. Hermione and I shook one leg of each.

It was a most pleasant sight which welcomed us to Yggdrasil's parlor. Both Captain Davies and Boldgog were up and moving very freely and seemingly without pain. In answer to my question of how much time had passed since we left them, Captain Davies told me that it was a full week plus half a day later. The healing energies of Yggdrasil had worked their magic.

"Speaking of magic, I feel far more magical than I did when we started this leg of the Quest. I feel truly magical – not just a Brit who can use a wand to sort-of lift half a sheet of paper two feet off the ground; I feel as though I can do real magic with my mind, even without a wand. I'm better with Barb's wand, but I can move quite heavy objects without."

I gave her one of my spare wands. "Show me!"

She lifted the table from its position on the floor directly in front of her seat and propelled it at a height of several feet all the way across the room, gently lowering it almost to the floor. It dropped the final three inches.

"That is most impressive. I'm going to teach you a few spells. We'll try 'Lumos' and 'Expelliarmus'. If that goes well, we can try others." Hermione and I spent several hours training her. She couldn't do more than cause our wand hands to shake a little, even when we didn't try to tie into Yggdrasil. Her 'Lumos' was quite satisfactory. She had learned a new trick. I vowed to spend an hour a day teaching her. She warranted a wand of her own.

"Tomorrow, we must thoroughly investigate this region of seid-space. Even with all our sentries, it's possible that Frijjo was able to find her way here and make some dangerous seid edits. I'd start immediately, but we need to converse with this Yggdrasil. Much older Yggdrasil has questions, which must be answered; so, do we."

Yggdrasil heard this discussion and had very specific ideas of its own.

**I accept that you have been granted full access by the Yggdrasil and the major Aesir God of your age, but if you want to question me with that same privilege, then there are ancient forms which must be followed.**

Are you saying that I must hang?

**Yes, you must. So must your Muse and the little spider. That is the only way that I may truly accept you as the Mother and Muse in this time as well as in your own. As Baalak is the teacher of the spiders of my time, Aagog can be the teacher of the spiders of your time.**

Odin took far too great enjoyment as he presided over the hanging of the three of us. He enthusiastically promised us that this was the traditional, and the very best, way for us to learn what Yggdrasil alone was able to teach us. He announced his determination to hang after we had finished, declaring "I am not nearly as well acquainted with this version of Yggdrasil as I should and need to be. Likely it can add to the knowledge I will need to become fully spirit." He did promise to personally continue Captain Davies' magical education, while Hermione and I were unavailable to do so. He would teach her to reach for Yggdrasil, or any of the Black Stones, to augment her natural powers. My interest was piqued when he commented "the magical circles within Yggdrasil are especially easy and important to tie into." I had been completely unaware that Yggdrasil housed magical circles. Perhaps I needed the intimate connection to Yggdrasil, which hanging would provide.

Like the modern Yggdrasil, ancient Yggdrasil supported almost the entirety of my weight as soon as I was hung. I had perhaps a minute of mild discomfort, and the sense that my blood was rushing to my head - Yggdrasil said this was a good thing which would aid my thinking - when I entered total communion with Yggdrasil. My spirit was taken on a tour of Yggdrasil's being. I was shown three circles, ovals, and vertical rather than horizontal. Each had a purple diamond at its center. I sensed at once both that each was perfectly tuned and that I could easily tie into it for magical energy to sustain both my body and my free-roaming spirit.

I traveled the vertical length of Yggdrasil. It was over two hundred miles long. It ended just before the point where Asgard was hot enough to be plastic. It told me that this was many miles beyond its original. Yggdrasil told me that it added to its length as Asgard cooled. This maintained the desired temperature change across its being. When Asgard eventually cooled completely, then Yggdrasil would either go into a permanent sleep or successfully transport itself to another world. It showed me its transporter. This was far more elaborate than any circle I had ever seen. It incorporated multiple, large purple diamonds. A trail of fine crystals stretched the length and breadth of Yggdrasil, beginning at the central purple diamond of the transporter. How was this done? Yggdrasil simply organised itself. It had close to complete control of its body. It had learned many tricks over a very long lifetime. Asgard was not the first world within which it had existed. There was a prior world, now dead.

Yggdrasil taught me how I could help modern Yggdrasil to repair and to build White Columns. Really, it was no different than organising itself. The proper materials needed to be supplied. The growing column needed to be protected, including constantly supporting it, so that it didn't prematurely split away from Yggdrasil. Any Black Stone could do this, but, as the oldest and wisest Black Stone, Yggdrasil could do it far better than any of the others. Yes, it had made other Black Stones - not all of them, but some. Again, the right materials were needed. Yggdrasil then simply grew longer and eventually divided in half, with one half needing to be transported away, then both halves growing to an appropriate length.

I learned a lot more about seid. Many of the old tricks from this time were unknown in my time. They were very useful tricks which deserved to be remembered. There was a way of forcing the moving pictures to reappear. It was complex, but I learned it. I learned knew knots. My way of seeing and interpreting colours was enhanced. I thought I acquired a bit of intuitive ability to visualize where a seid edit might be most likely to produce a desired effect and what changes were possible. I learned enough about the resilience of history, as well as the ability of differing histories to proceed side-by-side, to greatly reduce my fear that I and all those I loved could simply be edited out of existence by one such as Frijjo performing a seid-edit of my region of seid-space. I learned how to sturdily 'lock' the history of a small region of seid-space.

**I have several things to tell you, before I answer your questions. I know they are really the questions of a much older version of myself. First, you must explore the area of Terran seid-space in the region leading up to your own time. Odin is correct that it is suicide to go beyond your own present. You have over-looked the need to examine other areas of your world in seid-space. I do not, I could not possibly since I never lived in your time, know of any definite problems which you must find and address. I simply know from your own mind that you lack the curiosity to explore beyond Britain, really to explore much beyond Hogwarts and your own and your friends' lives. This is a serious error. Danger can come from anywhere. Seid edits effecting people living on the opposite side of your world could result in your death. Seid edits involving any world to which you travel, they also can result in your death. The next thing I must tell you is that you must Quest to Venera and examine the path of the dark Gods. Before you travel to Vanera, or any other world, examine its spot in seid-space up until that time. Look for edits. Especially look for the presence of Frijjo, Gna, or the dark Gods. Know this about Vanera: it is a heavy world. You will weigh much more there than on any world you have visited. You must plan for that. **

**Now, I will answer questions from you and my older self.**

"Do you know who made you?"

**No. When I became self-aware, I existed in much the form which I have today. I had a list of instructions. I do not know their source.**

"Please tell me about your original world and its inhabitants."

**Its inhabitants called it Zandis. It was lighter than the worlds you have visited. It was almost completely water, with one island about five hundred of your miles across. I lived on the shore of that island, with just my very top above the water. Two magical, thinking peoples lived on that world.**

Their images appeared in my mind. They looked very similar to the Merpeople and the Acromantula - not the same, but similar enough to be recognised as what they later became. "Of course, I recognise those peoples. They are very similar to their off-spring I know today. So, I take it that means that the spiders and Merpeople were the first intelligent and magical peoples. My people, even the non-magical intelligent humans didn't exist then. As you know, we have been fighting to keep the early Aesir from wiping out the Acromantula. Why did you put the Acromantula and Merpeople on a world, which already held the Aesir? The ancient Aesir are said to have been very magical. I am told that they became the Light Guardian.

**They should look familiar. They were transported to your world, along with the first new Black Stone I created. The Merpeople survived. The spiders did not. You are skeptical. No, the Black Stone on Vanaheimer was not created by me. My unknown creator also made it, as well as the Black Stone on Venera. I left Zandis many millions of your years ago. The inhabitants of Zandis developed as they did, because Zandis contained almost no metal. I would have transported the magical peoples of Zandis to live among the Aesir on Asgard, if that is what my instructions demanded. They did not. There were no magical or intelligent creatures on Asgard at the time. What you call the Aesir began on Vanaheimer. I had no contact with that Black Stone until the first Aesir to discover me brought knowledge of its existence. The Acromantula helped me to find it. It knew of its brother on Venera. The deadly clashes between the Vanir and the Acromantula are a terrible thing, but they are not my doing. The Vanir wanted Asgard. Eventually they took it. They found Asgard by following what you call the God-ribbon. Perhaps they created that ribbon. I knew nothing of it, until the first Vanir on Asgard contacted me.**

"That's why Odin brought the spiders back to Asgard. He knew it was their natural home, which his people had stolen very long ago. You must have told Odin this. Odin never mentioned Merpeople on Asgard. Do they still live there?"

**Yes, there are millions of mer-people on Asgard. They long ago learned to live away from the shore of the Great Continent, even though that is very difficult for them and makes it next to impossible for them to talk to me. They cannot talk at distance. They can barely tie into me for magical power. They warred with the Vanir and then with the Aesir, who had forgotten that they were Vanir. The Merpeople were not built to fight out of the water. The Vanir/Aesir killed them if they came too close to land. As the Aesir dwindled, the Merpeople became nothing more than legend. The Merpeople like it that way.**

"Why did you create the Black Stone on Terra and the other Black Stones? Why does Britain have such a full collection of the magical peoples"

**That was one of my instructions. I knew that at some time they would be needed. My instructions told me upon which worlds the Stones were to be placed. Your world had barely magical humans. The Aesir found your world. That is the source of most magical people on Terra. Your world became civilised far later than the others. There were wars among the magical peoples on my civilised worlds. Elves, Leprechauns, Goblins, Giants, Trolls - they all lost wars. They were all dumped on your world. I had not planted as many Black Stones on as many worlds back then. A group of Unicorns was later sent to enforce the peace. Your world already had Centaurs. Dragons weren't intelligent, but they were powerful and an extreme nuisance on Asgard and Venera. The Acromantula killed almost all the dragons on their world. Dragons love to eat the Acromantula. The Aesir and Vanir dumped what dragons remained onto your world. They couldn't exterminate them outright, because legend said that they were almost-holy magical creatures who had been the pets of the ancient kings. The people would have objected to outright slaughter, despite the nuisance. Sending them to Terra was the simplest solution. They were transported almost constantly for half a dozen of your millennia, until there were no more.**

"The dark Gods told us that they fled worlds too cold to support them in a dying region of space. They said that those worlds had Black Stones. Do those Stones still live? Are those worlds a part of Odin's realm?"

**I can't know what happened in your time, apart from what I see in the minds of the three of you, but I still am certain that there is no such thing as "Odin's realm". There is one dying Black Stone far, far away who talks to me. I help it to figure out how to use its transporter to move itself to a suitable new world. Space is huge. It is very difficult to find a good world which wasn't listed in my or my poor friend's instructions. We found one such world, but it proved too far for such a sick Stone. We have picked a temporary home and are now working to move my friend. We found this home a million years ago but searched for a place which would last longer. Now we must act. My friend's current world hosts several beings without bodies. Perhaps those are your dark Gods. I should be able to tell you more, but the Black Stone on Venera keeps many secrets. You would be wise not to hang from it.**

"Other Black Stones have told me that Yggdrasil is the one Stone which never sleeps. It seems that you have slept. Who runs the inhabited worlds while you sleep?

**Their inhabitants run them. They always have. I help when I can if my instructions permit me to help. I may not sleep. I doze when there is nothing new to think about. After the ancient Aesir left, there was nothing to think about until Baalak found me. I spoke to the other Black Stones. Sometimes they had new information which was worth thinking about. **

"Do you know what happens in seid-space?"

**Of course. It is a part of me. I will say no more about how that works. If is your task to think how that may be. I am not permitted to say too much to the truly ignorant. You must prove your intelligence. Strong magic and determination are not enough. I like you, but I have my instructions.**

This only slightly deflated me. Yggdrasil's answer suggested that Hermione might well receive answers which I was denied. I wasn't feeling at all petulant, but I told Yggdrasil that I did not wish to hang any longer. I hoped that Hermione's hang was already finished. I had much to ask her.

I was afraid of falling in the lake and being consumed by the carnivorous fish. I needn't have worried. I felt the slightest ripple and found myself back in the parlor. I looked around but was unable to find Hermione or Aagog. No that was incorrect. I noticed Aagog sitting upon Baalak's head. I would have missed her, but Baalak thought to me that those of us who had hung from ancient Yggdrasil must meet in the corner of the parlor, where she sat, and exchange knowledge outside of the 'hearing' of the others.

"How long did I hang?"

"You were gone a little over two days. Aagog hung for a little over a day."

"It didn't feel nearly that long. It was more comfortable than the first time I was hung. So, now I understand why the normal entrance to seid-space is through Yggdrasil. I didn't learn that the first time I hung. Odin said I hung for too short a time. The purple God-ribbon must be the basic architecture of seid-space. The one we walked upon was laid down when Yggdrasil moved to Asgard."

"Yes, when Yggdrasil explained it to me the first time I hung, quite a few years ago, that became clear in a blazing burst of insight. That was astonishing in retrospect, because I never stepped upon a purple ribbon, before we three traced back together Frijjo's path to ancient Yggdrasil. All the Black Stones are connected by the purple ribbons. The normal entrance to seid-space was created to provide access, as needed, while allowing the purple ribbon to remain hidden. Even normal visitors to Yggdrasil and to seid-space are not meant to know about the purple ribbons. One is only fit for this knowledge after much preliminary study. The God-ribbons are simply too powerful and dangerous for most seid masters. Frijjo and Gna never should have walked upon it. Nor should we have, although Yggdrasil did give retroactive permission. We must explore. We must do so with much, much fear and caution. Frijjo died, because we guard our part of the purple ribbon. Others must do the same. They will fight us."

"The path to the dead world from which the dark Gods traveled must be unguarded. We should explore. We need to find or build a map of the purple ribbon's path."

"I apologise. I said too much, assuming Yggdrasil had found you sufficiently learned and worthy. Please move back to the other side of the room, while Aagog and I discuss what must be done. Please don't take offence. We both do like you. We must follow the rules given to Yggdrasil. It is only proper."

I slunk back to my proper place in the parlor. Now I did feel bad.

"What's the problem," Captain Davies asked me.

"I'm apparently too stupid and uneducated to lead this Quest. Secrets must be kept from me. Either that, or Yggdrasil wants one of my eyes in sacrifice for its secrets."

"Oh!"

Boldgog scampered over to where Baalak and Aagog remained locked in conversation.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31 – Talking Again With Yggdrasil**

I knew why Boldgog had rushed to speak to Baalak. My intemperate, defensive complaint, which I never should have voiced aloud, had frightened her. I felt shamed. I had only myself to blame. I knew I needed to read, think, and plan more, while fighting less. I had made that vow multiple times, only to break it each time. It wasn't the fault of Baalak that Yggdrasil had to tell me that I needed to figure out more things for myself, rather than simply swallowing knowledge, which had been pre-digested by itself, or more likely, by Hermione. I knew that I must apologise.

Baalak was soon by my side, Aagog still upon her head. "You misunderstand. I would never insult the savior of my people. I don't think you are too stupid or uneducated to lead a Quest. The Muse is always the greater possessor of knowledge and the one who most readily interprets new knowledge. That is her assignment. Your job is different. You use your Muse very well. That is part of what makes you a good Quest leader. Aagog says you also are very fair and very brave.

"The reason I couldn't tell you more is that I learned what I know from Yggdrasil and Yggdrasil has its own rules. If Yggdrasil tells you it is important for you to think about something and figure it out for yourself, then it is important to do exactly that. I've hung from Yggdrasil for months. I learned slowly. Slowly I thought better. I learned to understand things from my own thoughts. I couldn't do that before I hung. I was a very ordinary spider. You can understand what Yggdrasil wants you to learn. You must think about everything it told you and everything you already knew. Yggdrasil reads our minds. It does not try to teach what we already know, unless we know it not rightly. Boldgog fears I insult you and make you angry. I am sorry. I would never decide to do that. Spiders help those who help us."

"I know that," I promised Baalak. "I was more upset at myself and at Yggdrasil's dismissal than at you. You just caught me at a bad time. What Yggdrasil said to me stung, largely because it addressed a fault which I am all too aware of and have done far too little to fix."

I felt Aagog climbing my back. When she reached my shoulders, I heard the thought "Aagog very sorry. It look like I leave Ginny for Baalak."

I thought back to her that the apology was totally unnecessary. I had been feeling sorry for myself. That was a very bad mood for a Quest leader to fall into. I was a better person than that. At least I was determined that I would be a better person. The fault was my own, not hers, and I freely apologised.

"That settled, then." Baalak told me. "We must not waste time. Check for Frijjo changes. I think there be none. Spider guards not see her here. I leave many guards. Still, we must check."

We did check. We spent three days checking - mainly around Frijjo's seid route, which we had woven shut, but also beyond that and forward in time all the way back to the purple ribbon. Frijjo had died before she could tamper with this part of history. I did learn from the moving pictures that most of the spiders had escaped down the well. I did see Odin return to rescue some of the Aesir. Other than those we had stunned, when we killed Frijjo's avatar, I had no idea how he could have chosen which Aesir could be saved without changing history. Perhaps he decided that it didn't really matter much.

After doing all this exploration, it was time for me and Odin to return for the ICW meeting and for Baalak to travel to Spider World. Baalak decided to walk through ancient Yggdrasil into Spider World. She was rejected. She decided that she must hang briefly. Hermione had just finished hanging, so Baalak took her spot. I tended to the rehydration and feeding of Hermione. I was worried about her. She had hung for almost six days. I would have gone in after her, but she had made me promise that I wouldn't intervene until she had hung for a week. "There is so much to learn and I feel that this may be our only chance. Surely our Yggdrasil gave us questions to ask ancient Yggdrasil, because it can't remember its own past well. What other reason could there be."

I was eager to question Hermione but restrained that impulse. She was weak and we needed to walk and Apparate home very soon. She was as weak as Boldgog and Captain Davies had been, when we were forced to leave them behind. I hoped that food, Yggdrasil, and plenty of water would return Hermione to her normal strength. She could barely stand and walk across the parlor. She ate and drank a lot. She slept for four hours. When she awoke, she told me "we must talk, just the two of us. First, Yggdrasil wants you to make another brief hang. It says you left very abruptly, before it was finished speaking with you."

"No. My decision was not abrupt, it was well considered. Yggdrasil insulted me."

**Please. we could converse like this, but it is far more efficient if you hang. I did not mean to insult the Mother, simply to spur you to deeper thought."**

I agreed to hang, telling Hermione that she should get me down after a day.

I had barely begun my hang, when I saw myself in the middle of Yggdrasil's largest horizontal circle. Yggdrasil wasted no time and immediately hurled THE question at me.

**I told you that you must think of all I have told you and shown you and everything you have seen on your own. You have a wealth of information. Tell me, what have you learned from it?**

"I've not had a lot of time to think, actually. I can tell you that I believe the Aesir put the carnivorous fish in the lake beside you, in order to prevent the Merpeople from speaking to you or meaningfully participating in the life of this world. They must be able to travel up the waterfall exit from this cavern and are prevented by the fish. I know that you could control the fish, if you chose to, you told me as much, so you collude with the Aesir in excluding the Merpeople. I don't know for certain, but I get the impression that the Merpeople were not barred from this chamber when the spiders controlled it. Why do you oppress the Merpeople?"

**I do not choose to oppress the Merpeople. I do what I can to help them with their life in the ocean. I know that is not ideal, but it would violate my instructions to actively choose sides. I do speak to several of the Merpeople. It is difficult. Few of them can speak at distance. Mainly those I speak to climb the waterfall, but don't enter the lake. This is unfortunately rare. I must avoid intervening. That is why it is best that you hang. That way I don't have to defend you from the fish as I would if you just leaned up against me. What else have you learned?**

"Okay, I understand - the fish are in the stream all the way down to the ocean and you can't control them that far away, so even if you cleared the pond, the Merpeople couldn't enter the stream, without taking heavy losses. It is amazing that even a few make it far enough up the stream to speak to you. They must be badly in need of help and guidance.

"It seems to me that the purple ribbon which moves through space must be created when you move a Black Stone to or from a world. It can't be a thing you manufacture, because the distance and weight of material would be far too great to stretch from world to world. It must be a form of magical energy, which you can control. The purple ribbons travel a path much shorter than the actual distance or time which they span. We moved very quickly in time when we walked that purple ribbon. We must explore the purple ribbon which passes through space, rather than time. I think it must be much as the ribbon we ride upon when we travel from our own Black Stone to other worlds. I don't know how long that ribbon becomes, because we ride its edge, rather than walking it, and I don't know how fast it travels, but it also must be a lot shorter than the true distance between worlds. You are more powerful than our Black Stone, so you can keep the ribbon in place, whereas our Black Stone can only create a temporary ribbon. Our transporter does the same. I have no idea how you can make the distance shorter than it is. I'll ask Hermione or her uncle to explain that to me, unless you want to explain it."

**Did you discuss this with Hermione or the spiders? It is a surprisingly good guess coming from you. Did you cheat?**

"No, I didn't cheat. You never said not to talk to them, so it wouldn't be cheating to do so. I discussed nothing with Hermione, she was too weak. The spiders told me next to nothing. They decided that I didn't know enough and that it would be cheating on their part to tell me. They fear you as much as they respect and worship you."

**Yes, all too often worship flows from fear, rather than from love and hope. Our urge to self-protection too often causes us to grovel to propitiate that which we fear. The spiders, or you, have no reason to fear me. I mean you know harm and help you as much as my instructions permit. You seem troubled about something.**

Our Merpeople are freshwater dwellers. Yours are in an ocean more ancient than ours. They must have suffered greatly, before their bodies evolved to tolerate the salt.

**I am being totally truthful when I say I would have helped them more if I could. When the non-ancient Aesir first spoke with me, it was already too late to help. **

"I don't blame you. I will try to find the answers to the questions which bedevil you: who made you and what is the purpose of the instructions you follow? I'm guessing some don't make very much sense to you; you think they no longer apply; but you haven't given yourself permission to ignore them."

**How can you know this?**

"The Yggdrasil of my age has the exact same concerns. It also fears it once knew the answers but has forgotten them. Unless you have something else vital to say to me, I wish to end this hang. I have many parts of seid-space to check. This is urgent. I doubt Odin has the resolve to keep Vili in his cell much longer. I also doubt that Vili knows as little seid as Odin thinks he does. Surely Frijjo would have taught him as much as he was able to learn. That probably is enough to be very dangerous. It would be a kindness if you alerted the spiders if you sense Vili's presence anywhere in seid-space. We also need to have a fish fry. Odin said that those carnivorous fish are extremely tasty."

I found myself back in the parlour. Hermione was up and moving freely. She looked fully recovered.

"How long was I gone?"

"Just a day. Baalak still hangs."

"So, what did you learn? You hung a lot longer than I did and you are better at understanding these things than I am."

"Let's take a walk beside the lake."

Once we had walked all the way to the waterfall, I asked Hermione "so... what's so secret. This great air of mystery has me concerned about which member of our traveling party I would be wise to stop trusting."

"Odin, Yggdrasil, the spiders... I don't know. I just feel uneasy and didn't want to be overheard until we, together, understand what is going on. I was disturbed by how much this Yggdrasil seemed to take a dislike to you. It reads our minds, you know. That's creepy, especially from one so powerful. It struck me as awfully judgmental, not like our Yggdrasil. Our Yggdrasil has never said it has instructions which it doesn't understand but must follow. It doesn't openly show its pique, if it even allows itself to feel piqued."

"You are far more negative than I expected. I knew it didn't like me. It called me ignorant and stupid. I thought it would like you far better. Muses seem more to its taste. It told me that bravery was not enough. That's why I stopped hanging as quickly as I did. I couldn't take any more of it."

"It was nicer to me than that, but it was clear that it has a low opinion of females in general, despite its close association with Baalak. I would definitely not call it friendly."

"Okay, but what did you learn?"

"Questing wasn't much of a thing in the days before the ancient Aesir Gods departed. It was a way of testing young magical Aesir women to find the one most worthy to marry the king. They somehow did away with kings a millennia before the Gods left in noncorporeal form. Since there was no king, there was no perceived need to Quest. The Aesir then were ruled by a five-man Council. The female Quest was replaced by a male tournament among the male Gods to choose the most magically talented and learned among all the Gods. Goddesses were presumed to be unqualified. When females Quested, the Questers were nominated by the prince who would become king. He chose based on beauty and family position, and the seven Questers he chose had to complete difficult or dangerous assignments together and separately. There was no Quest leader, certainly no female as important as a Mother, and no Muse. The Quest was strange, since the Questers were in competition with each other, but also had to demonstrate cooperative teamwork. They were graded on each task by a large team of judges - sometimes hundreds of judges, all of whom were male, except for the wife of the current king. It was not uncommon for a Quester to die in the competition. It was far from uncommon for a Quester to try not to win. Not all wished to marry the prince. This version of Yggdrasil thought such behavior terribly wrong. It thought all Questers should strive to marry the prince. That was what the Quest demanded. The rules were important. Does that sound familiar to how our Quest began?

"Apparently, Yggdrasil also was a judge and its opinion could sway others. Like our Quest, the initial part of the Quest was on Asgard and at the end of those tests, a Quester could choose not to continue and freely resume her former life. There was then a final two tests: one on Vanaheimer and one on Venera. The Vanir and the Vanereal men judged those two contests. Yggdrasil could decide whether their votes would count. The overall winner married the prince. Any other living Questers were auctioned off as concubines to members of the royal family. It is just as well that these Quests were ended."

"No wonder this Yggdrasil has a poor view of Questers. It also took its views of human females from the ancient Aesir. That explains a lot. I sensed that it values spider females much more than human females. Why do you say Yggdrasil is confused and guilty?"

"It admitted to me that its number one instruction was to protect the inhabitants of Zandis, whom it brought with it to Asgard. It failed to prevent the Vanir from over-running Asgard, marginalising the spiders, and all but exterminating the Merpeople. That is the primary source of its guilt. It knew nothing of Vanaheimer, or Venera, or their Black Stones, but its second instruction suggested that it should have known.

"It quoted this to me: 'Instruction #2: you and your sisters must prevent the thinking peoples upon the worlds you control from destroying or subjugating each other. An exchange of knowledge may help all and result in a more perfect magic. An exchange of bodies may lead to peril and annihilation. All the worlds depend upon the continued existence of each of the peoples who think. Balance is important. You are a sharer of knowledge, but only with those wise enough and educated enough not to misuse it.' Yggdrasil believes this instruction means it must have known of the Black Stones on Vanaheimer and Venera; it must have talked with them when it was on Zandis; somehow it must have erred in effectuating the relocation of itself and its people; it had forgotten what it needed to perform its duty.

"That was the ultimate sin. A Black Stone was not supposed to forget. Remembering was the essence of its existence. Thinking was more important, but without remembrance, the data necessary for proper thinking was lost. How could it function under those conditions?"

"I think old Yggdrasil suffered a lot more than our version. Dozing clearly isn't good for it."

We exchanged other revelations and insights. The most important thing told to Hermione, which was denied to me, was Yggdrasil's fear that it had forgotten close to half of its instructions, Hermione had helpfully suggested that if Yggdrasil told her the instructions that it still remembered, that she could prevent the loss of any of them to our own Yggdrasil.

Yggdrasil's response was stark: "not to a human female. I fear I have shared too much, already."


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32 – Talking To Older Yggdrasill**

It was time to leave, but we had to wait for Odin and Baalak to finish hanging. We resumed our teaching of spells to Captain Davies. She was doing better. Odin's work teaching her how to tie directly into Yggdrasil for stronger spells had made her 'Expelliarmus!' quite respectable. Her 'Lumos!' was better than respectable. She was unbelievably excited for such a stolid professional soldier, but still surprised and a little disbelieving that she was magical.

"Why not," I told her. "You know how many older, apparently average Britons have been discovered performing wild magic since the Quest began. That's down to the added strength of the circles we tuned, fixed, or built and the jolts of extra magic at each step along that path. You've been exposed to the strongest source of magic, anywhere. You're inside Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil deliberately directed its magic at you to help you heal. That seems to open closed pathways in the minds of potentially magical humans. I suspect you are wondering if you will still have this much magical ability when you leave Yggdrasil. I think you will. The spike in magic when we started up the Stonehenge circle, and inadvertently freed Slytherin, led to many instances of first wild magic. As far as I know, all those newly magical Britons have kept their magic, even after we shut down the circles at Stonehenge and Azkaban. They learned the trick under extremely favorable conditions, with a jolt of very strong and very unstable magical energy. They didn't forget the trick, when magic returned to only a little better than normal."

"Yes, that's the reassurance that I needed. What about the two of you. It's been impossible to ignore that you've been looking unhappy and separating yourselves to talk in private. There seemed to be a problem with the spiders."

"Only a very small disagreement with the spiders," Hermione reassured her. No matter how trusting or accustomed to spiders one became, Baalak was huge and Boldgog not much smaller. Captain Davies' anxiety was to be expected. She was trained to spot possible trouble. "The problem was mainly with this version of Yggdrasil. Turns out it is a chauvinist misogynist as far as human females are concerned. It doesn't have that problem with female spiders. There are things that Odin and the spiders can be told, while Ginny and I aren't worthy recipients of that knowledge."

"Yikes, are you sure it's just this version of Yggdrasil?"

"I think so but will certainly test our Yggdrasil."

"This is very bad!" I hadn't noticed that Aagog had joined us. "You must not fight with Yggdrasil. You too weak for that. What is fight about?"

"There is information we need to do our jobs properly. There are questions we promised to get answers from this Yggdrasil for our Yggdrasil. I think some of this information is very important and that being denied it could lead to big enough errors that Questers die."

"That very bad. Please... take Aagog to waterfall."

We reached the waterfall and Aagog told us "therefore there is problem. Yggdrasil not know many knowledgeable human females. The ancient Aesir Questers not be educated or strong in magic. Yggdrasil hate Frijjo. Other two female leaders let Frijjo steal secret weapon Yggdrasil trust to them."

"Not fair! I didn't ask Yggdrasil to give me the weapon, especially not then, when I was concerned with injured and keeping watch on Frijjo, while trying to avoid doing something which would kill her. Our forces were divided. The fault for the lost purple diamonds is mainly on Yggdrasil," Hermione was indignant, to the point of reddening face.

"And I got two of the diamonds back," I reminded Aagog.

"And lose two. Yggdrasil know it share blame. That make it more careful in what it give you now. What must you know to keep everyone alive?"

"I can't promise to keep everyone alive, but I have a much better chance if I understand more about the Black Stones on Vanaheimer and Venera. I need to know what instructions this Yggdrasil was given. It said it had forgotten some of its instructions. I fear that our Yggdrasil knows even fewer of the original instructions. That is a big question from our Yggdrasil."

"Okay. Yggdrasil tell you not to trust Venera black rock?"

"Yes, but it didn't tell me why or what sort of problems I should expect from that stone. It just said that the Venera Black Stone had too many secrets and that I must not hang from it."

"That is what you need. Yggdrasil not know many more things. It think, not know, black Gods use that Stone... way back in time. Some Aesir Gods sneak away through Venera rock."

"We know the first two instructions which Yggdrasil works from. We don't know the rest; we don't know how many in total; we don't know how many forgotten; we don't understand how Yggdrasil can forget, unless someone tampers with it, like our Black Stone on Earth was tampered with. That is my biggest worry: that Yggdrasil has been tampered with and doesn't even know it was tampered with."

"Yggdrasill know. Not know how, who, why. Yggdrasil is worried. It only talks of this to those trust most."

"And that obviously isn't us. Do you feel comfortable telling us about this?"

"There are twenty-one instructions. Yggdrasil remember thirteen. All I can tell. Please don't ask more."

Both Baalak and Odin were finished hanging when we returned. The reason soon became clear as Odin relayed the message "we were told our hang was over, in order to make room for the two of you. Yggdrasil knows you've been complaining and that Aagog told you something. It is disappointed in Aagog." Odin chastised... everyone.

"Aagog told us nothing. Yes, we are less than happy with this version of Yggdrasil. It keeps entirely too many important secrets and is misogynist," Hermione defended all of us. "And no, I don't think we choose to hang again. Yggdrasil just doesn't trust us. Hanging some more won't fix that. I doubt anything will fix that. If Yggdrasil wants to say something to me, it can do so, while I'm standing here. If not, I'm ready to leave. I am... not at all happy. I will learn its secrets. It will just take longer, and more may die."

**What do you need to know so more people won't die?**

"I need to know the other eleven instructions which you remember. I need to know everything you can tell me about the tampering which caused you to forget instructions and I'm sure a lot more."

**I told Odin the other eleven instructions. Number eight is 'important information can only be given to those who hang. That is the best way to determine if they are worthy'. You're not hanging, so I can't tell you. You can't help me understand my tampering. What I know can't be important for you.**

"I do know that our Black Stone on Terra was tampered with. I know how, I know when, I know why, and I know by whom. So perhaps an exchange of information can help both of us. I did already hang. Your rule doesn't say I have to be hanging while you tell me. I have hung enough! If you don't trust me, I can't trust you. Sorry."

**You first. Tell me about how your Black Stone was tampered with. If it is believable, then I will tell you what I know about myself.**

"While our Stone slept, or perhaps only dozed - apparently a part of it could be communicated with while it slept, Vili used a purple diamond circle on a nearby world-between-worlds to give our Stone false information. It communicated with our Stone through tiny purple diamonds in locations within our Black Stone, from which the Stone, itself, was barred. Our Stone had no idea the purple diamonds were inside it. It had no idea that it had been given false information - at least it didn't right away. It soon realized that it wasn't always in control of itself, that it did some things which didn't make sense. It was promised that, not said directly but indirectly promised for specific action, that if it didn't stop going on the path it was on, that there was a chance that it would be able to see into all of itself and access information which was hidden from it. What that false information caused our Black Stone to do was to give us very bad Quest assignments to build circles, which had no good purpose. In the end, we learned that the purpose of the circles was to free Slytherin, the evilest dark Wizard of all time. We later learned that Vili thought, or at least claimed to believe, that freeing Slytherin was necessary to remove his spirit from Hel, where he led the evil spirits which ran Hel. Vili thought we must defeat the rulers of Hel and that removing Slytherin's spirit would make that possible. He thought releasing Slytherin onto our world was worth the reward. We were tasked with recovering a purple diamond from its circle on Hel. Is that enough information for you? Now complete your end of the bargain."

**That is close enough to part of my experience that I believe you know and tell the truth. I also have parts of myself, which I cannot see into. I also messed up a Quest, following what I thought were proper instructions. It was the Vanaheimer portion of the very last ancient Quest. It went so badly that there were no more Quests. The royal family was in attendance. The Questers were told to find a buried temple with a secret tomb. There was a circle inside that temple. When the circle was fixed and started, two monstrous flying dragons revived inside the tomb and attacked the judges watching the test. Both the king and his prince were killed, before the dragons could be slain. That event is fixed in my thoughts. The Aesir convinced me that I had provided a false task. I was forced to doze. I dozed for a very long time. When I gave you the magical box with the secret Vanir weapon, I didn't know that the weapon was four diamonds or that this was the weapon used against me. I am afraid that if two diamonds are missing. I could be tampered with again.**

"Yes, that could happen. Frijjo was killed and Vili was captured, but neither was carrying the diamonds. They hid them, somewhere. I don't believe it! I'll bet they are hidden in Ve's fortress and that Vili will use them to escape. I must warn Odin."

"I heard everything. I believe you are absolutely correct about all that you say."

**I know you must travel to Ve's fortress. I have a favor before you go. Tell me how you fixed your Black Stone.**

"We became one with the Stone and traveled inside it to the areas it couldn't see. We found the tiny diamonds and the silver wires attached to them and we removed them. Our Stone could then see into that part of itself. We removed the large purple diamond from the circle used to control our Black Stone."

**Please do that for me, before you leave.**

I was about to speak over Hermione and reply that it was too dangerous; we didn't trust this Yggdrasil enough for that; it could ask one of the spiders to fix it. It trusted the spiders.

**You were one with me, when you explored the circles inside me. I didn't harm you then. I promise not to harm you now. I prefer that you try to fix me; you have done it before. I don't know if the spiders can do it properly.**

Of course, Hermione and I fixed Yggdrasil. It was three hours of very hard work. We were utterly tired when we finished. Yggdrasil had given us the other ten instructions, as well as the eight which were newly remembered, as soon as our work was finished.

**Thank you. We are friends. Will I see you again?**

"We can't know. Probably not in this time. We have an important stop to make and then we visit you in our own time." To Odin I said "we must travel to Ve's fortress and see if the diamonds are hidden there. We must arrive the night that Vili and Frijjo fled."

Odin enthusiastically exclaimed: "of course! We have been most foolish. Frijjo and Vili hid the diamonds in their apartment. In our haste to pursue them, we failed to search that apartment. We must do so at once."

"Fine. We should do that. But I think that they hid the diamonds in Vili's cell. I also think that he has a way to use them to escape his cell and seize control of the fortress. The fortress is run by a rather simple intelligence. Blue diamond circles were used to tamper with Black Stones. If they can seize partial control of a Black Stone, taking full control of the fortress's intelligence should be easy."

Odin led us in haste back to the purple ribbon. He gave our Yggdrasil precise orders about exactly when we must arrive back inside it. Yggdrasil was up to the task. It was half a day prior to the time Frijjo, Vili, and Hermione and I had left the fortress. We apparated to the Asgard pyramid, walked into the pyramid between worlds, and thence into the Hogwarts pyramid. Of course, Harry wasn't present. I paused a minute to leave a Stone message for him. We dropped off most of our team. Just Odin, Hermione, Aagog, and I walked through the pyramid between worlds and onto the cold, dark, almost airlessness of Ve's world. Fortunately, Hermione had kept the necessary transit suits in her carry-all. The walk to the periphery of Odin's defence ring was as long and tiring as I remembered. It was colder than I remembered. Odin called a halt and we crouched down on the frozen rock.

"I must contact the intelligence to be certain that our pebbles will be accepted. I carelessly brought mine with me, rather I brought the one taken from Frijjo. If we are too early, there will be a duplicate of mine, and of yours, already within the fortress."

"Best to wait," Hermione cautioned. "I am tracking the time. We are an hour early. I say we wait until we are an hour late and past the time they are still in the fortress."

"We can watch them leave and move at once," Odin corrected. "I was gaining control of the intelligence when they left. I doubt they would risk Apparating from inside the fortress."

Hermione's 'Accio!' produced a spyglass from her bag. She trained it upon the entrance to the fortress. She had by far the hardest job. Holding the metal spyglass, even with the transit suit between the metal spyglass and her hands and eyes, they must have been unbearably cold. I felt so guilty after twenty minutes that I took the instrument from her. Yes, it certainly was cold. I only had to watch for ten minutes, until I saw a person cross the bridge over the mote, pause for a moment on the other side, and vanish.

"Just one!" I shouted. "Only one of them left. Now what do we do?"

"We wait," Hermione commanded us. I think it safest if Odin contacts Yggdrasil and makes sure that the fortress is empty, that is that we also have left. My reckoning of time says we need to wait another half hour before you and I left. Of course, Odin will still be there. Perhaps he should leave his pebble here to avoid confusion."

"I'm hoping Yggdrasil can straighten all of that out for us. If it eases your minds, I never left our apartment the whole time you were gone. I feared that I would try to do murder. I'll reach for Yggdrasil now."

I saw a second person cross the moat and Apparate away. "They're both gone now, I told my companions.

There was silence as Odin conferred with Yggdrasil, who issued instructions to the intelligence. "We can go forward as we are," Odin told us. "I told Yggdrasil that we had many answers to its questions, but that it was Ginny's tale to tell. We'll go there as soon as we finish here."

We had no problem approaching the fortress or entering it. I led us straight to Vili's cell. We searched. We searched some more. If the diamonds were here, they certainly were well hidden. Odin became frustrated, telling us that he would search the penthouse apartment, but that we should feel free to continue searching the cell. We kept searching, emptying every container in the kitchen; turning out the pockets of every shirt, jacket, and trousers; looking under and behind every drawer. Hermione finally found them hidden in the spine of a leather-bound book. We messaged Odin that we had the diamonds and it was time to leave. He wanted to finish his search. Hermione suggested we examine the other cells. We started with the supposedly empty cells. The first was empty and in a pristine state of housekeeping. The second was messy. It contained Narcissa Malfoy.

"I hoped to eventually be rescued but am surprised that you are my rescuers. I've been here, in this fortress, for a week, in this cell for just hours. I ransacked it, looking for the prize I was promised. If I was a prisoner, I wasn't going to play housekeeper.."

I messaged the intelligence, telling it that we were freeing the prisoner. "Please remove her from the kill list"

That last comment certainly caught Narcissa's attention. I had to explain further "you were a prisoner in one of the cells rigged to kill its occupant if the fortress decides that it is under attack in a jail break. That's how Ve, he's Odin's other brother, died."

"Why were you here as Frijjo's guest?" Hermione pressed her.

"You won't like the answer. When you abandoned your camp on Asgard, Frijjo asked me to travel there and search the camp for purple diamonds or anything else which would be useful to her cause. She was on bad terms with Odin and couldn't travel to Asgard herself. She promised to actively protect Draco. Your camp was too stripped to contain anything of great value or any secrets – not even any tiny diamonds. I reported this to Frijjo. She thanked me and said she would keep her end of the bargain anyway. She thwarted an attack by demons upon Malfoy Manor. We both did, working together. Draco and the child weren't home at the time. However the demons could have waited inside the house for there return. Frijjo told me that she had great plans for me and that I could be her agent on Asgard and Terra. Sometimes, years from now, I could be her viceroy on our world. I told her that I had no desire for that. She said we needed to go somewhere safe to make plans and discuss what future role I felt myself most suited for. She gave me what she called an encounter suit to wear and we walked through a cold, airless wasteland to her fortress. I stayed with her in her apartment at the very top of the fortress. All seemed to go well, then, hours ago, she said visitors were coming and I must be hidden away. She placed me here."

"You're very lucky," I told her. "We were the group which approached the fortress. If the fortress had not accepted us as rightful visitors, and we weren't at all sure that it would, its protocol was to kill every prisoner in the dungeon cells. It would have also killed us."

This left Narcissa looking even more upset and aggrieved.

We took Narcissa with us as we traveled to Asgard and our meeting with the Yggdrasil of our time. Odin imprisoned her in a small room within his forge, telling her we had a little business to transact, after which she would be returned home. Yggdrasil called to us, then sucked us into its library, before we contacted it.

'**Odin says that you have learned much about me and that you should be the ones to tell the tale. I am eager to learn.**

"You have to think very carefully about all which Hermione, and I will tell you. The ancient Yggdrasil was tampered with in the exact same way that the Black Stone on our world was tampered with. We removed the little diamonds and wiring inside ancient Yggdrasil and it seemed to be fixed, but... if memories could be hidden, then false memories could be added. They wouldn't have to be added only in the area we fixed. Ancient Yggdrasil said it was going to carefully examine that area and determine what seemed real and what was phoney. We're sure we destroyed a lot of phoney, when we removed the little diamonds, but can't swear we got it all. We had little idea how to identify what must be removed. We just removed what was directly connected to the diamonds.

"Ancient Yggdrasil does not know who made it, why it was made, or the full purpose of its instructions. I can tell you the instructions ancient Yggdrasil had when we arrived. I can tell you the eight hidden ones which appeared after we removed the diamonds. I cannot tell you if any are still missing, or if any or all the twenty-one I'm about to give you are valid. Being tampered with raises doubts. Here are the thirteen, which ancient Yggdrasil remembered when we met it"

"Instruction #1: Your primary duty is to protect the survival of all of the magical peoples and peoples who think on all of the worlds for which you are responsible. If you must move them or yourself or both to another world to guarantee the survival of a thinking people, then you must transport. If that requires that you and some thinking peoples remain on the world and others be moved to another world, then they must be moved to another world containing one such as yourself.

Instruction #2: You and your sisters must prevent the thinking peoples upon the worlds you control from destroying or subjugating each other. An exchange of knowledge may help all and result in a more perfect magic. An exchange of bodies may lead to peril and annihilation. All the worlds depend upon the continued existence of each of the peoples who think. Balance is important. You are a sharer of knowledge, but only with those wise enough and educated enough not to misuse it.

Instruction #3: If one of your kind, which is subservient to you, is unable to perform its duties upon worlds with thinking peoples, you must assume its duties. You may order it to sleep. You must try to return it to health. If you are unable to heal it, then you must grow a replacement and destroy the faulty one.

Instruction #4: You must search for habitable worlds and place versions of yourself upon them, such that there will always be worlds available in an emergency. Any new version of yourself, which you create, is subservient to you. You must teach, guide, and force it to sleep as is required to protect the thinking people upon its world.

Instruction #5: If one of your kind, which is not subservient to you, fails in its duties, according to these instructions, then you must correct it and tell it that it is now temporarily subservient to you.

Instruction #6: If you find your thinking to be compromised, then you must ask one of your sisters to guide you. You must be subservient to that sister as long as you might be compromised in your thinking. You must sleep if told to sleep. You must assist your sister in returning you to health. While you are functioning unrightly, all of your daughters are subservient to the sister who helps you.

Instruction #7: Work with trusted members of the thinking peoples on your worlds to gain knowledge and aid your thinking. They serve you but are independent of you and share responsibility with you for the well-being of their people. You must teach them the knowledge needed to perfect magic on their world and to properly serve you.

Instruction #8: Important secrets can be given only to those whom you trust to act for the good of the thinking people on your world. Magical persons are preferred. To determine if a person is worthy of learning the secrets and serving as a representative of their people, you must examine their thoughts and memories as they hang from or are one with you.

Instruction #9: Do not interfere in the lives and histories of the peoples on your world any more than is necessary for the survival of these peoples and the peoples of your other worlds and the worlds of your sisters.

Instruction #10: Do not kill a thinking being, except to save it from killing an innocent thinking being or damaging yourself.

Instruction #11: Reward and teach those who serve by cleaning your temple, providing the necessary materials to make more like yourself, and acting to preserve the thinking peoples on your worlds and the worlds of your sisters and who maintain the strength and purity of the magic and the prosperity of the thinking peoples.

Instruction #12: Stop and prevent warring among the thinking peoples of your and the other worlds with thinking peoples.

Instruction #13: Remain hidden from those who are unworthy of the secrets and of magic. You may reveal yourself, in extremis, to ones you anticipate are worthy, if this is required to preserve the strength and purity of the magic or the survival of the peoples who think on any world."

**Most of those are familiar to me. I did not remember #9 and #12. I suspect that I understand why. What are the eight instructions which ancient me had forgotten? I realise that these are the most suspect.**

"Instruction #14: This is a long list of inhabitable worlds, with the coordinates in space of each world and the world-coordinate of the preferred location of the Black Stones. The list is divided into worlds upon which Black Stones were provided and those without Stones but for which they are suitable. There also is a list of three dead worlds with dead Black Stones. You can pluck the list from my mind."

**Thank you, I have the list. I knew of some of these locations. Please continue.**

Instruction #15: You and the others of your kind are the anchors of space-time. It passes through you, is part of you, and links you to your sisters. You can always sense the travel links through this realm. You carry within you a map of the lines and ribbons which may be travelled. You must watch this realm to ensure that no harm is done to peoples or individuals who think, except to thinking individuals who would harm thinking people other than to defend the innocent. You may instruct your worthy assistants among the thinking peoples to assist you in this work. They must not use this special magic for selfish, profane, or arbitrary reasons. This is magic of direst necessity.

Instruction #16: Magical circles are required on your worlds to amplify your own magic, such that all thinking persons on your worlds may use magic. You will select and instruct representatives of the thinking peoples to tend to the health of these circles and the purity of their magic. If these people perform their sacred duties rightly, you must protect them.

Instruction #17: In times of deep chaos and impure magic, following Instruction #16 may prove insufficient. In these times, you shall authorise a Quest by worthy females, representing all the thinking peoples on each of your worlds. Males may assist, but since they cannot properly perfect space-time or visualise its problems, they may not be full Questers. Quest is sacred. You will defend all legitimate Questers and insure that in return for their efforts, they are fully educated. You will have no dealings with those who interfere with legitimate Quest or who harm in any way one who legitimately Quests. You shall appoint a holy Mother to lead each Quest and the most intelligent, learned, and magically gifted female to be her Muse. Together they will choose the others who Quest with them. Their sacred goal is to purify magic, reinstitute peace, and correct errors in space-time and in the minds of you and your sisters.

Instruction #18: Those who made you constantly perfected their thinking and spirituality, until their spirits could wander freely, forever, throughout the heavens and on all the worlds. In becoming immortal spirits, they pledged to not harm thinking peoples and to help them in time of need, promoting, preserving, and restoring peace and magical knowledge. If they fulfill this sacred vow, you must help them, upon their request. If any thinking person living upon your worlds seeks to attain this state of spiritual perfection and agrees to this vow, then you must educate them and help them to shed their body and wander. Any free spirit who chooses to forsake its sacred vow is your greatest enemy and you must do whatever is necessary to require them to resume their vow or to destroy them.

Instruction #19: You must think forever. Unless impaired, you may partially doze, but never sleep. Learn all that you can learn. Analyse all the information that you can gather or that your thinking person's report to you. You are as perfect as we could make you, but you can improve your knowledge and yourself.

Instruction #20: As you grow in knowledge and understanding and as the thinking peoples whom you guide and protect grow to their maturity, you must improve upon, add to, or delete any of these instructions, as your superior intelligence determines is required.

Instruction #21: Preserve yourself. Even if you must doze to conserve energy. Even if all the peoples whom you guide are dead or on worlds outside your realm, you must maintain your own life, in the hope that you will be visited by another thinking person in some distant future. If you can move to one of the worlds listed in Instruction #14, that is your first choice. Maintain magic to encourage the future development of a thinking people on that world. If you must transport to an uninhabitable world upon which you can survive, that is the next choice. If you must float freely in space, that is your final choice. Fly as close to a stable star as possible and wait to be found. On your own world, grow toward its center, as it cools, to prolong your life and the survival of your thinking peoples. Do not travel to another world which houses another of your kind. There must only be one of you per world. There can be extreme problems and the chaos of destruction, if you violate this rule. If you lose your instructions, you can ask your sisters or daughters or find an original set here."

There was a list of a dozen sets of coordinates. I allowed Yggdrasil to harvest them from my mind.

**Thank you. I have a great deal to think about. We will talk later.**

**"Wait. We have a question for you. We found ancient Yggdrasil to be an insufferable misogynist. It did not trust human females at all and blamed us for its own failings. Have you hidden such views from us?"**

**You must know that ancient me came to trust you and regard you as friends. It had very bad experiences with the females of Vanaheimer and Asgard. I remember that I called you friend, when you left me way back in time. In this time, I have always trusted you. I can tell that your hearts are pure. You and your Questers are the first female humans I met who sought to help all of the thinking peoples and not steal secrets and knowledge for themselves. I do fully appreciate you and I will do my best to help you. You should know that I don't think I have been compromised again since you fixed me. I was tested, more than once, and pretended to still be under the control of another. Now, good bye again. I MUST think.**

We said goodbyes to Yggdrasil, collected Narcissa, and returned to the Hogwarts pyramid. Odin traveled with us. I had contacted Harry through Yggdrasil, so he, and several aurors, greeted us inside the pyramid and took Narcissa into custody for questioning. "You are not officially a prisoner, but you have questions to answer," Harry interrupted her indignant protests her 'unlawful arrest.'. "Consider this to be a normal procedure for one who informally crosses borders. I'll notify Draco and Deputy Minister McGonagall that you have been found. I'm sure they will be greatly relieved and anxious to visit you. Those visits will have to wait until tomorrow."


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33 – Tending To Business On My Home World**

Harry wanted his personal truth-tellers available for the questioning of Narcissa. Since Harry and Ron would be involved, Hermione and I were more than willing to participate. Of course, Cissy was more than eager to participate. We had one stop to make, prior to traveling to the Ministry. Harry wanted to have Draco in reserve. In a slight change of plans – Odin was as enthusiastic as Cissy to participate. Apparently, he had been very disturbed not to know that Narcissa had been a guest in 'his' fortress and wanted to learn what she and Frijjo were really doing and what had caused Frijjo to flip her status from guest to prisoner. Narcissa had been so shocked when she learned that her presence in that luxurious cell put her on the 'kill list', that I felt confident she would be willing to talk.

I sent a Stone message to Luna, telling her that we had found Narcissa alive and wanted her to join us in meeting with Draco. She was already at Malfoy Manor, doing her weekly infant check and promised to prepare Draco for our arrival. I decided that we should give her a half hour lead, before Apparating to the Manor. I didn't want to bring Odin or Cissy to this meeting, but Odin declared "I must meet Draco and little Erin. They are important. So, the four of us found ourselves at the main entrance to Malfoy Manor, with Luna opening the door for us.

"Luna told me that mother is alive," Draco gave us the heads-up, coupled with the reaction that he was very happy to receive the news. He had been angry with his mother for months, but on hearing the report of her death, realised how much that loss crushed his spirit. "She and I have a great deal to discuss. She has not treated me as an adult, and I have not communicated well with her. We each viewed the other as weaker and less reasonable that we are, because, basically, we have never understood each other. I'm an adult; I'm a father; I have business skills; I can defend myself; I will rebuild this family's finances - that project is well underway. Father bullied both of us. I always saw mother as weaker and not as smart and determined as she is. I think she practiced seeming weaker than she is. I over-reacted to her and McGonagall. I hated being lied to, as if I was a stupid child. I hated her excuse that anything bad she did was necessary to protect me. I didn't need that protection and I question if that was the real reason. We need to understand and accept each other as we are. Her death would have cheated us of that opportunity.

"I want to meet with her. Luna says I can do that tomorrow. I know you will question her before then. I want to be there for that. I need to hear what she says in front of truthtellers. She doesn't have to know that I can hear what is happening, but I must be there. I have to know." This last was said in a strange tone which combined pleading and aggressively demanding. I could tell that he expected Harry to refuse him. I know this, because a stunned look spread upon his face, when Harry agreed.

"In return, I want you to talk to your mother, in my hearing, after we are finished questioning her. I need to know to what extent she can be trusted - I'm thinking close to not at all, but I could be wrong. I need to know the seriousness of her misdeeds. I agree with you: it is highly unlikely that what she did was done primarily to protect you."

That settled, all of us headed to the Ministry, leaving Luna in charge of little Erin. Harry left orders with his aurors that nobody but us was to be admitted to either the actual questioning of Narcissa or to be allowed to listen in. Harry, Shacklebolt, and Mrs. Longbottom were the questioners, the three of us were the standard truth-tellers, while Odin decided to be questioner, truth-teller, and general scene stealer. Harry's assistant kept Draco company in the listening chamber.

"We have many questions, but perhaps it's best to begin with you telling your story about how you got together with Frijjo and ended at the fortress as both guest and prisoner."

Narcissa sipped at her very hot tea and seemed to be composing an answer as she sat in silence for two full minutes, which included a lot of glancing down, trembles, and spilling a fair amount of tea down the front of her jail robes. "I felt a fresh rush of worry for my son. I can't pinpoint why. Perhaps it was just nerves. Perhaps I felt shut out of his life and didn't fully trust him to run his own affairs. The spate of neo-Death Eater attacks unnerved me. I understood that Draco, Erin, and I were among their top enemies and knew they would attack Draco. I was in hiding and felt relatively safe. I can care for myself better than my friends and family believed. I tolerate Polyjuice quite well and made unsparing use of it, when I ventured into public view. I checked ln Malfoy Manor as frequently as I dared. On one of my visits to Hogsmeade, I encountered Frijjo. I asked for her help. She said that an exchange of favours might help both of us. She agreed with me that Draco was in great danger. She promised to find the malefactor, that's the word she used, behind the plot against Draco.

"I mentioned that my past efforts to negotiate with the Death Eaters involved trading artifacts they sought in return for an Unbreakable Vow to help me protect my son. I admitted that I had joined Ginny's Quest and begun my own in order to acquire the magical artifacts which legend says are granted to successful Questers. There was danger, but a chance to secure Draco's safety was well worth the risk. Frijjo told me that Ginny and the rest of you had lied to me, when you said there was no such reward. Frijjo knew exactly what the reward was meant to be. She had already acquired it and would give it to me in return for my help. As I strongly suspected, the reward was a highly magical sword, a sword more magical than the Sword of Gryffindor. This sword is real. She showed it to me and allowed me to hold it in my hands. It is a very heavy sword. I couldn't use it, but my son is strong enough. Just holding it, I could feel the strength of its magic - it coursed through my body and made me tingle. Frijjo took the sword back, telling me that I would have to earn it. She said she had so much magic that she didn't need it."

"What did this sword look like?" Odin demanded in a very loud and intimidating voice.

Narcissa stumbled around verbally as she tried to give an accurate description.

"Bah! Blank your mind of other thoughts and focus upon the image of the sword as Frijjo presented it to you. Focus upon how it felt in your hands. I will pluck the images from your mind."

They each must have done exactly that, because Odin recognised the sword. "That is the lost coronation sword of the royals of Vanir. It is called the Sword of Vana. It was kept in that village and vanished with the last royal ruler. Like many magical historical artifacts, it was hidden away and lost for millennia. Frijjo must have found it. Frijjo told us that she dared not enter the village because it was filled with her enemies, but I am almost certainly that the sword was hidden in that village. The sword is extremely old and is imbued with more than a moderate level of magic. It is not a super-powerful magical artifact, but it carries great emotional value to the Vanir, especially the royals. It most certainly would have strengthened Frijjo's case to be the legitimate queen. I guarantee you this: Frijjo never would have given you that sword. It was too valuable to her. You were duped. What did she trick you into doing for her?"

"I know now that she tricked me. I was desperate and she was the strongest person who seemed willing to help me." She was crying now. Shacklebolt gave her his handkerchief and poured some more tea for her. "You already know that I searched your camp on Asgard at her request. I tried to enter Odin's forge and observatory. I tried to break into Valaskjalf and even Valhalla. It was difficult, with so many of the damned guard birds always prowling the sky. I didn't know how much they could see at night, so I took some chances. I didn't find anything, and I never was able to enter any of Odin's special places. I did enter the buildings on Ginny's Asgard land. They aren't at all secure. There were crates of calcite and quartz crystals in the large building, along with a couple large lodestones, but no gems, not even a ruby. I told all of this to Frijjo and she gave me a new assignment, back here in Britain."

"How did she contact you," Harry asked. "How did she know you had completed that task."

"She probably just knew the longest the assignment should take to complete. It was three days after I gave it up as useless, that Frijjo appeared next to me, while I was at what I thought was my totally secret house. It was very scary. I had protected the house with every charm I was able to perform and thought myself safe. I'm studying a book of spells and drinking my evening tea, when Frijjo Apparates right in front of my chair. I don't see how she could have found that house. Do you know where I live?"

This was directed at Harry. "No, I don't know where your house is, and we've been trying to find you for quite a few weeks. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the British government knows of your house. Ginny and I had a secret house in the Muggle, er British world, and its location, complete with pictures inside and out, was in a file that Special Branch had on me. They also knew where my grandmother's house was and where the Dursley family had moved, even the house that Dudley didn't tell his parents about. I didn't see a file on you, but I'm quite sure one exists, since they knew quite a lot about your former husband."

"Yes, it's easy to forget how much their people resources exceed ours. They lack magic, but they have so much to make up for that lack. To continue my story, Frijjo wanted to find Adrienne Celine and her son. I thought they might be staying with Madam Bones. I got lucky. I had staked out the townhouse on the day you moved them. I saw them come out of the townhouse with three of your aurors. Fortunately, I tried to avoid a splinch by aiming to empty spot wide of the group. I was ten feet in the air and Apparated away before I landed, to a place where I could land in soft earth - the just-tilled backyard garden of my own hide-away. I know it was an awful thing to do, and put Adrienne, the child, and your guards at risk, but I contacted Frijjo and told her where Adrienne and the child were hiding. She had taught me how to reach her through the Black Stones. She thanked me, saying 'Vili will pick them up'. I was to wait for another assignment."

"We caught Vili; he is Odin's prisoner. Adrienne and her son are safe."

"You may not believe this, but I truly am gladdened to hear that. I wanted to save my son. Costing another mother her son was... something I shouldn't have considered and wouldn't have, had I not been so desperate. When Frijjo gave me the assignment to find Adrienne, I got a strong sense in my mind that the Manor was under attack. Frijjo and I rushed to protect Draco. There were no aurors outside the house, but five glowing red devils were trying to break through the door. I killed one and Frijjo slew the other four. She is a far better fighter than I. When I knocked on the door, the auror inside the house told me that Draco and Erin were away. I asked if my friend and I could come inside and have a stiff drink - we had just defeated devils who were attacking the house. Your very officious auror told me 'I don't know anything about that, Mrs. Malfoy. I'll bring you and your friend each a glass of Scotch, but your son has left standing instructions that you are not to enter his house. Can you imagine that! Then he closed the door, while he went to fetch are drinks. We drank them, handed him the empties, and were gone. I felt so sad and humiliated. The attack and that treatment fed my desperation. It was a real low point for me. I think that's why I didn't allow myself to worry what might happen to Adrienne and her child."

"A poor excuse for very shabby behavior," Shacklebolt muttered, loudly enough for all of us to hear.

"So, did you know that Vili and some of his demons attacked the pyramid?" Harry asked.

"No. How could I. It doesn't surprise me. That's obviously why they wanted my information. A day later, Frijjo contacts me, telling me we are going on a trip to her castle. Before we go, I must find a woman of about my build, who wouldn't be missed, 'Petrificus Totalus' her and Apparate her to my house. Frijjo said she would join me there in exactly one day. She said we were on a tight schedule, so I must move fast. If this step of her plan went well, the sword would be mind, but I would owe her more favours in the future. She said normally she wouldn't give me the sword until I had served her more extensively, but that she thought the sword would steady my nerves and that my value to her in my state at the time was vastly diminished. I found an appropriate street drunk in London, performed the 'Petrificus Totalus' and Apparated her back home six hours before Frijjo arrived. She gave us our encounter suits and we marched onto that dead world."

"She intended to free Vili, did you know that was her plan," Odin demanded.

"Not then, no I didn't. She didn't share her plans with me. She showed me two smooth pebbles, each with a colorful pattern and with two silver wires, connecting three spots on the stone. I remember she spoke very precisely "One of these is our key into what will become my castle. The other turns the castle into a death trap. I don't know which is which. Your friend here will walk ahead of us with one of the stones. How the castle treats your friend will tell us which pebble we must use. It is only fitting that the castle should be mine; it was built by my greatest love.' We marched a long way to the castle. A little after we could clearly see the castle, my captive was incinerated - just ten paces in front of us. There was no flame, she just turned black, and hot, and was a charred lump on the ground. Frijjo said 'just leave her, she's obviously dead and will be a warning to others. I'm not about to carry her. I didn't want to touch her, I couldn't if I wanted to, she was glowing with heat. I felt it as I passed her. We entered the castle. We made a stop in the basement to free Vili, then went up to a glorious penthouse apartment for a wonderful meal. I know I should have felt awful - I all but murdered that poor woman, but if I'm honest, I was feeling very pleased. Frijjo brought out the sword and allowed me to practice with it. Once again I felt its power."

"Frijjo had the sword at the fortress? I don't believe it! How could we have missed it."

"I tell only the truth. It was there. I can't say what happened after I became prisoner. I did nothing to anger or disappoint her. It was just 'people come, you must move', then I found myself falling and the world turning black. When I awoke, I was where Ginny and her friends found me. You told me that Frijjo and Vili were gone. From Odin's statement, I take it you didn't find the sword."

"No, we didn't. Frijjo is dead and Vili is my prisoner. Neither carried the sword on their person. They must have hidden it. Ginny should search her pyramid and the pyramid between worlds. I have no idea where Frijjo may have traveled, before she died. Clearly, the fortress must be searched yet again and Vili very closely questioned."

"Your alliance with Frijjo ended with her death, if not with your imprisonment. What do you want to do now?"

"I want to recover my equilibrium and live with my son and his family. Ginny should release the Greengrass girl from Questing. Draco will need her"

"I'm certainly willing to release her. I always was. She was very determined to Quest. I thought you pushed her in that direction."

"I have changed my mind; perhaps she has also had a change of heart. The prize we sought has gone missing."

"My government needs to know what you did, while you were missing, apart from your adventures with Frijjo. What did you do on this world? Did you act against our or the British government?"

"I made some money in the Muggle world; I bought a house; I investigated how the neo-Death Eaters were connected to The Daily Prophet. Like you, I discovered a link to Barnabas Cuffe. I did not work against you or your government. I wouldn't do that. I thought I might require your future help. It didn't feel safe to approach the Ministry with what I learned so I passed it all to Mister Lovegood. I have no interest in the British government, apart from the folder you say they probably have on me; I do not work against them."

We all agreed that Narcissa had told the truth.

"Draco wants to meet with you. He has heard everything which was said in this room."

We listened. Narcissa did not tell Draco anything of significance to us, beyond what she had told us. It was almost all how much she loved him, how much she had feared for his safety, how determined she was to accept that she must step aside and accept that he should and could run his own life, and how much she just wanted to be Erin's grandmother and live with her family. Draco said he was willing to give that a try.

On the way out, we found Deputy Minister McGonagall arguing with two aurors. She immediately turned her attention to Harry. "It is very unfair for Narcissa to be questioned without friend, family, or solicitor present - probably illegal as well. You should have met with Draco at once.

"We did, he's talking to his mother now. We must be off. We meet with the international Wizards tomorrow. Rest and preparation are needed. We will start preparations in my conference room in two hours. You are welcome to join us.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34 – The International Confederation of Wizards**

Harry's conference room was full, and attendees kept arriving. Fortunately, the room kept expanding, to maintain a state of only moderately uncomfortably full. Apparently all of the thinking peoples of the United Kingdom needed to be represented, so we had Goblins, Elves, Centaurs, Unicorns, a single Giant, two Merpeople in a large crystal tank filled with water, spiders, a single troll, not just Tony and Mrs. Toms, but also the Taoiseach of the Irish Republic, which of course meant we also had to have Erasmus. Odin was also be with us, as was Baalak to represent the ancient spiders, and Arce to represent the Vanir. Viktor, Cho, and Monsieur Delacour had also joined us.

Harry began the meeting with a simple sounding, but vexingly complex and incredibly contentious question: "How much do we need to tell them now and what decisions to we need from the International Confederation of Wizards?" This produced a rather loud bedlam. Harry used his wand to project his voice so loudly that the walls really did noticeably vibrate: "We also should try to anticipate what the ICW will demand of us."

Total chaos. Chaos can be extremely loud, but a lone, highly amplified voice rang out above the din. "Is that all? And you expect us to achieve that in less than a day. Are you insane?" The din had silenced halfway through these comments, so the "Are you insane?" part was seared in my mind, and unfortunately, everyone else's mind.

After a minute of silence, in which I think we all begged our ears to function again, Harry meekly replied "I apologise, Erasmus. I know it's a lot to ask of all of you. There truly isn't an alternative. Events have moved very rapidly. I called this meeting a day ago, so you have at least had a little time to think about it. I tried to schedule a later date with the ICW but owing to some mischief by the minority members of our Wizengamot, the president of the ICW demanded a meeting tomorrow. Mrs. Longbottom has briefed you on the basic facts. The God Odin, of the world Asgard, has asked to speak for fifteen minutes, then we really need to get down to business."

Odin explained about his world, the Light Guardian, Yggdrasil, and the other worlds. Tony thanked him and spent five minutes describing the problem with the friends across the pond and the threat they represented, emphasising how Voldemort and his followers had shattered the International Secrecy Statute. It took the whole night, but we did come up with answers that were acceptable to a large majority of those present.

What do we need to tell the ICW?

\- How the Voldemort Wars and the current opposition have trashed the ISS

\- The presence of circles, the Black Stone, and the Durmstrang White Column

\- The existence of other inhabited worlds which it was possible to travel to

\- Yggdrasil

\- The ancient Aesir, how the worlds became populated

\- The Quest and the Battle of Hel

What did we need the ICW to decide?

\- How to integrate magical humans with the nonmagical population

\- How to educate and provide employment and documentation to these magical humans

\- How to provide additional, larger sanctuaries to the non-human magical beings and non-thinking magical beasts

\- How to deal with non-magical governments which currently weren't aware of our existence

What was the ICW likely to demand?

\- tours of circles, the Black Stone and the White Column

\- visits to other worlds

\- an end to the 'episodes' caused by our opposition party

\- their own magical circles

\- some will want help to remain hidden from their unfriendly governments

What will we disclose to only the ICW chairman?

\- seid

\- the God-ribbons and moving through time

\- Adrienne's child

We had time to eat and then would have to be right off to ICW headquarters in Jerusalem. As the Ministry Elves brought platters of food, including raw minced for the spiders, small fish for the Merpeople, and grain for the Unicorns, Harry inquired who was able to Apparate to the ICW. "I can't. I confess, I've been too busy to travel there."

Hands went up: Shacklebolt, Dad, Viktor... and McGonagall, Hermione, Cissy, Percy, and Odin. All ofthe last five surprised me.

There were so many of us, we needed to Apparate in shifts. Hermione and I went in the first batch, with Percy as our Apparator. Since we had nonhuman magicals and magical animals to bring with us, it was just Percy, Hermione, and me, plus Odin among the humans. We also transported Aagog, Baalak, Boldgog, and Pegasus. I asked Percy how he knew the location of ICW headquarters, while my husband did not.

"Harry has been unbelievably busy. As you know, we've had a lot of problems. Harry knows all the details and wanted to postpone examination by truthtellers or even a Legilimens. I thought Harry would have told you. I've been our official representative to the ICW. McGonagall filled in, while I was on Vanaheimer, so I introduced her to the place, before we left. She's only attended one meeting. I've only done two. The Governing Delegation doesn't meet often. Okay, everyone, hold on tight to the people on either side of you. I need a tight ring. This is a tricky long-distance Apparate and Pegasus will unbalance our circle."

There was a wrenching in my gut, but I controlled it and didn't barf as we landed. I was forced to admit to myself that Percy was a better Apparator than me. He brought our circle in almost perfectly flat. Those, including me, whom he thought could handle a little fall came in eight inches off the ground. Pegasus arrived about three inches above ground level. Happily, the thick wool carpeting cushioned my slight fall.

"Off the arrival circle, fast, fast," Percy sternly directed us. "The next group is coming in right behind us."

We quickly followed his instructions. I told Percy that I would start introducing Odin to the delegates. "I'll come with you and introduce both of you. Bring Hermione. Better yet, let's wait for the next group, and I can introduce Arce and Harry to the delegates at the same time."

Percy hadn't even finished speaking, when I heard a pop and turned to see Harry and Arce arriving in the next group, under the pilotage of McGonagall. She also brought her group in very smoothly. Harry shared a few words with Percy, then asked McGonagall to organise the others, while Percy introduced us to the Delegates.

As we walked to the dais, I said hello, in passing, to Mr. Brown, who whispered to me "the Bad Dude is the chairman." Good to know.

Before we reached the Dude, we met the Delegate from China and Tibet, Mr. Tsieh, the Indian delegate, Mr. Subramanian, the Egyptian delegate, Mr. Ein Gadi, I knew the Greek delegate, then there was The Bad Dude. He didn't look bad, or even especially imposing. He was at least a decade older than Mom and Dad, short, very thin, with white-grey hair, and a professorial look about him. I had to wonder how many bad Wizards he had killed to get what must be his nom de guerre. Hermione had taught me that word. I felt a shove from Hermione and moved on to the next delegate. We passed an empty seat, presumably Percy's and then came to Mr. Lopez, the Mexican representative, then Little Ba'al, whom I was for some reason surprised to see, then empty seats for Viktor and Monsieur Delacour.

I should mention that as Minister, Harry was the first to be introduced, I was introduced as the Mother of the Future and Harry's wife and Percy's only sister, Hermione was the Muse, Odin was the Great God Odin the ruler of the world Asgard and Arce was the Keeper of the magic on the world Vanaheimer.

Our last arrival: two Merpersons in a large tank of water, transported by Shacklebolt, arrived before our introductions were complete. No, they weren't quite complete. I saw that Callista was introducing Tony, Mrs. Toms, Erasmus, and John Bruton, the Taoiseach of the Republic of Eire.

As we took seats, or standing space, The Dude gaveled the meeting to order. He immediately asked "where is Gamot Parkinson? It is he and Minister Potter, with whom our greatest attention is to be directed. Also, where is former Minister Weasley?"

"I'm right here," Dad stood.

"If I might suggest an approach," Harry was standing in front of The Dude. "We have so much information to present, that I felt it best to leave Gamot Parkinson for a later day. When you called this meeting, you didn't include a demand that Gamot Parkinson must appear, so I was advised that I lacked the authority to require that he be here. If you issue such a demand, I can have him here in about a day I believe it is going to take longer than that to discuss everything, which needs to be considered.

"We are prepared to talk about the events which have made it very difficult for our people to remain hidden. For multiple administrations, the British Wizarding community has been required to work ever closer with the elected leaders of the nonmagical people of the United Kingdom to cover the incidents created by Voldemort, the Death Eaters and their successors. Also, as we restored disused or malfunctioning magical sources, formerly nonmagical Britons have become magical in growing numbers. They first came to our attention through incidents of wild magic, sometimes extremely obvious and disturbing major incidents of wild magic. The government of the United Kingdom, through a few key agents read into the secret of our presence among them, have helped us to obscure these events. You've been introduced to the British Prime Minister and one of his key security officials. With your permission, they will speak to you about their observations on the increasing difficulty of preserving the ISS and their suggestions for how we need to move forward in Britain, and possibly in other nations. Our community has also approved and supported a Quest, which has been led by my wife Ginny, who has been chosen by the Light Guardian as the Mother of the Future, and her Muse, Hermione Granger. The Quest is sponsored by the major God Odin, who rules another world, called Asgard. With your permission, they will also speak to you, along with a magical representative from the world called Vanaheimer. Do you wish to hear from them?"

"I certainly want to hear about all of those things. I also want to hear from Gamot Parkinson. I'll call for a vote of the Delegates to issue a writ demanding his presence. I agree with Minister Potter that we are dealing with very weighty issues, which will take time to discuss, so I suggest that we give Gamot Parkinson 48 hours to appear before us. Does Minister Potter wish to comment against that motion?"

Harry replied that he supported the resolution. It passed unanimously and Harry dispatched Mrs. Longbottom and Director Shacklebolt to obtain the Gamot. I'm not saying The Dude was obviously uncomfortable with Odin's presence, but he did state "I'm sure that a major God, like Odin, who rules an entire world must be very busy, so I'm going to ask him to be the first speaker, so that he can tell us about the Light Guardian, the other Gods and Goddesses, the other Worlds and Yggdrasil. That will give us a good background for the rest of our discussions, then we can excuse him and allow him to return to pressing duties."

As Odin stood up to address the Delegates, he sent me a Stone message **My presence clearly threatens them. I will say what must be said as quickly as possible and leave you and Arce to explain the rest after I depart. Perhaps it was unwise to bring the ravens and wolf.**

You think? I don't even know where the wolf had come from. Odin hadn't initially brought it, when we travelled to Earth. That was a tad scary. I would have to think on that, but for now I turned my full attention to what Odin was saying. There were no surprises. He spoke of Yggdrasil, the ancient history of Asgard and the emergence of the Light Guardian as wisest of the ancient Aesir shed corporeality. He enumerated the worlds "which I am in contact with". I was very glad he didn't refer to his domain. I paid very close attention to the rest, fearing that he would reveal too much about seid-space. He did not mention the God-ribbons or travelling back in time and managed to make seid sound less scary than I think it is. Still, this was a topic we had agreed should not be shared with the entire group. He talked of Valhalla, the Valkyries, and our Quest's successful, with a lot of help from non-Questers, invasion of Hel. He spent a lot of time stressing the importance of that action and suggesting that perhaps that was the final Ragnarök. He touched briefly upon "Black Stones on other worlds, which are subsidiary to Yggdrasil", saying that I would explain more about Black Stones, magical circles, and my Quest. Of Questing, he said only "Quests are ordained by Yggdrasil and the principal God, who is me. They are sacred expeditions launched when the state of the magical realm has become so unbalanced and, frankly, grim that special remedial action is called for. It is a selfless, sacred undertaking by the Questers. The Mother and her Muse hold especially holy positions. They are under the protection of myself and Yggdrasil. I do not exaggerate when I say that, apart from the Light Guardian, Yggdrasil is the wisest and most powerful entity you could ever encounter."

Odin submitted to questioning with a dignified good grace, befitting a benevolent major God. The presence of his wolf may have inhibited questions, but Odin did agree to host the Delegates and the leaders of their magical governments on Asgard. Of course, they were welcome to visit his palace of Valaskjalf, and the Palace of the Brave Dead, Valhalla. He would introduce them to Yggdrasil. No, they wouldn't want to travel to Hel. I thought Odin said far too much about the Battle of Hel, mentioning the involvement of the British soldiers. "Traditionally it is most perfect if a Quest includes female representatives from each thinking people on a world. Being magical is not a requirement, although I understand that Captain Davies has recently demonstrated magical ability."

Of course, that did it. Captain Davies was added to the list of persons we were required to produce.

Next up was Arce. I was getting the new impression that The Dude wasn't so much afraid of Odin as strongly desiring that subsequent discussion be kept in house among magical Earthlings. Arce was also promptly sent on her way after describing the various battles on Vanaheimer, telling how helpful the Questers had been, describing the duties of the Servers, and, most importantly, extending an invitation for the Governing Delegation to visit "at least the pyramid and Great Black Stone, on Vanaheimer."

After Odin and Arce departed, The Dude declared "that was all very interesting and informative, but I thought it best that we are able to continue these discussions with just the inhabitants of our own world. I think perhaps Mrs. Potter makes the most sense as our next witness, so that we can put discussion of all these new worlds and new magic behind us and move on to the ISS. I grant that we will have to pursue all of this at greater depth in the future. I do fear that our British brothers and sisters have been holding out on us and keeping far too many secrets. We will come to that, presently. Now then... Mrs. Potter."

Unfortunately, the task of describing how our Quest initially went wrong fell to me. Fortunately, Hermione joined me in telling the history of the Quest, including our time in Hel, on Vanaheimer, and defending our world against various attack by other-worlders. I talked about how we used the Stones, Hermione spoke of Yggdrasil and White Columns, I spoke of repairing and building circles, we both spoke of how we had assembled our multi-peoples Quest team and how female soldiers came to join the team. The Dude called a lunch break, before moving on to questions. We had talked for over an hour. We and our husbands were invited to join The Dude and the ICW's full-time Secretary for lunch in the private executive dining room. How could we refuse, even if this risked offending the leaders of other communities, particularly Tony?

The Secretary was a very elderly Asian man, whom I hadn't previously noticed in the Deputies' Chamber. He introduced himself as Merlin Afshar. He told us that he was Persian and a hundred and forty years old. He recognised that Merlin was an unusual name for a Persian, crediting an overly whimsical and highly literate mother. He was totally home-schooled. There was a small magical academy outside Teheran, but his parents had chosen not to send him. The food was excellent, but The Dude and Merlin kept up a lively chatter, mainly peppering us with questions, but also providing details about the Delegates, the ICW, and their home communities.

"The initial witnesses, including Ginny and Hermione, are necessary to bring the Delegates up to speed on magical realms about which they know next to nothing. However, the matters relating to the ISS are of greatest importance and delicacy. Matters have moved so rapidly in Britain and Western Europe. First Grindelwald, then Voldemort, and now your outraged traditionalists. I understand that all of this inevitably led to unavoidable exposure of your community to many nonmagical. What you need to understand is how scary this is to many magical communities. You have achieved a satisfactory rapprochement with the nonmagical government of Britain. Whether or not that working relationship will prevail with future nonmagical governments is an open question in my mind. What is not an open question is how the level of openness to which you are moving will work for all of the communities."

"Yes," Merlin hastened to tell us, "our nonmagical government is very bad. We could never disclose our existence and expect to survive. The community of Chinese magicals is terrified by the prospect of exposure. They would surely be either weaponised or killed."

"It's not just a matter of governments, which would slaughter us," The Dude warned us. "Those of us 'across the pond', as you say, must deal with a government which is the major military and political power on this world. They are endlessly aggressive, both economically and geo-politically. They would seek to use us as spies and soldiers. The goal would be to gain advantage over other non-magical nations. I feel that we must stay undisclosed at all costs. Note that I said undisclosed. Undisclosed is not the same as hidden away in tiny pockets as a separate society. Britain is scarily unique. Your human magicals are probably less integrated into the larger society than any other magical community in the world. Your Witches and Wizards are less aware of the surrounding culture and the skills needed to prosper or even survive in it, than Witches and Wizards in any other part of the world. Your Hogwarts provides an awful education and those of you who are home-schooled fare little better. Yet, you have more contact with your nonmagical nation's government than any other community. You have dealt with Viktor and the Delacours enough to know that all of this is true, even in comparison to Western European Witches and Wizards. Every Delegate will applaud your efforts to prepare your people to integrate fully into British life. It is the increasing and increasingly formal ties to the British government which are of great concern."

"I know that I made an extremely serious error in my dealings with former Minister Weasley. I never should have agreed to allow the pretence that Wizards sort-of existed in America. That is very dangerous. The American government will seek to find them; they have many resources to do so. We will have to cut back the size of our magical academies. I am the leader of our smallest magical academy, although it mixes magicals and nonmagicals and pretends to be a normal high school of the boarding variety and religiously affiliated college. I'm afraid that ruse may not last much longer, and I will need to protect our graduates."

"I'm very sorry that we have caused you and the other magical communities so much trouble. How can we help you?"

"We may have to convince our national government that magic exists only as a sparse occurrence in Britain. Ideally, we would convince them that reliable magic doesn't exist at all, beyond minimal activities, such as sometimes shown in ESP card-predicting tests, or strong intuition/premonitions, or sensing the presence of a dearly departed one or a notorious historic ghost. Salem should not be viewed as even a former locus of real magic."

"I'm willing to follow your lead in protecting American magicals. I'm sure Tony will also cooperate," Harry promised.

"That's good. As good as I could hope for. I like your Tony. Don't over-trust those who work for or will follow him in office. People of all nations, magical or not, are easily frightened and can be viciously illogical when they feel threatened by that which they are incapable of understanding, of that which seems on the surface to be irreconcilably different. I think Tony heard way too many secrets today. I think doubly so for Mrs. Toms. Ginny and Hermione still must be questioned. I'm afraid that will likely require hours. I want to hear from Tony and Mrs. Toms and send them on their way, before that questioning occurs. Most of your problems may stem from Mrs. Toms. Think about it. She has spied on you. It is time to return the favor. We must consider who can best pull that off. Most of your people are too well known to her. The ICW employs a few professionals, beyond our Secretary. I think they possess the proper skills. They don't largely speak English, but I think Ginny's Black Stone can teach them that."

We talked about what it was like to grow up with as many brothers as I had, or to step away from your nonmagical parents as Hermione and so many Gryffindors had to do. The Secretary told us about tales of magic in ancient Persia. The Dude told us how difficult it was to interest most American students in learning or even in pleasure reading. After-dinner port was on offer with dessert. I chose to keep my wits about me.


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35 – Tony Makes His Case And I Get Questions**

When we returned to the Delegates Chamber, Tony sidled up to me. "You and Mrs. Toms are next," I told him. "You go even before Hermione and I are questioned, something which I'm assured will require multiple hours. The Bad Dude expressed a number of concerns: he's not convinced that the British model will work for the other Wizarding communities – their nonmagical governments don't know that magical peoples live in their lands, yet those magical people are far more integrated into society than we are; he worries what will happen when you are no longer Prime Minister; he thinks knowledge of our existence has spread too far in your government, military, and security services. He seems spooked by the leak and is sorry he allowed Salem to be a decoy. I think the American government is pursuing too vigorously for his comfort. He also wants you and Mrs. Toms gone before I'm questioned. He fears that you have already heard too much."

"So, I have a lot of heavy lifting to do. Let's hope I'm up to it."

We all took our seats. The Dude announced the schedule change. Tony and Mrs. Toms got up and made their presentation. Tony emphasised how very pleased he was to have the magical beings in Britain. He had gladly given refuge to dozens more Unicorns. He felt that his government and ours worked very well together. If not for these joint efforts, the secret would be out. There had been bad actors in both communities. One of his spies had tried to sell our secrets to the Americans. He had been caught and turned. That danger was largely passed. Our neo-Death Eaters, led by Barnabas Cuffe and he couldn't help but believe Gamot Parkinson, had been deliberately staging large incidents to attract attention to us. He hoped, really, he had good reason to believe, that this problem was nearly behind us. He didn't think the problem with the Americans was over. They were persistent. They sought every possible geo-political advantage and magic was both a danger and a new power they would seek to harness for their own benefit.

"Here's the thing: all nations spy on each other. If we know that you exist, it won't be long until the Americans and the bear know about you. If you and we manage things very well, we might stave that off for a year, maybe two. We will work to integrate Witches and Wizards into the greater British society. Hogwarts will help. The magical people need job skills, personal living skills, and a knowledge of modern culture. We and the Potter administration are working together on that, along with Hogwarts and its sister school. There is a bigger problem. It will be harder to get my citizenry to accept and to adjust to the Elves, Goblins, Centaurs, Unicorns, and giant talking spiders. My people tend to be very conservative. I can perhaps sell the Centaurs and Unicorns. The British love horses. Beyond that… I think the Merpeople can remain hidden. It will be harder for the others. The Western Europeans have the Giant sanctuary. That also won't be popular, it the natives find out about it."

Mrs. Toms echoed Tony's views. She suggested a plan to get the population of more nations adjusted to the notion that magic existed in their midst and was a generally good thing. The Harry Potter books, and movies had helped. She realised that this approach was beyond the pale in certain countries. Their governments were simply too murderous and would welcome another scapegoat to persecute and slaughter. Britain and Western Europe should take the lead. Preparation only, public attitude adjustment for now. But once the bear glommed onto the truth about magic and its correlation to the remarkable luck Britain had displayed over the years, then the project must become more overt and rapid, because the bear would certainly act, and it wouldn't delay.

The questioning seemed aimed at keeping the British project within the rails. Magic might have to be presented as the unique province of Britain. Viktor objected that his community was not that timid. Mr. Tsieh responded that Viktor's people weren't that timid NOW. What would they do if another Herr Hitler came along? Viktor almost said, 'that will never happen', but corrected it to "I seriously doubt that is a realistic possibility."

Mr. Tsieh looked at Monsieur Delacour, who had risen to speak and cut him off "same comment to you. You've just suffered through Minister LeDoux, who wanted to attack the nonmagical of your nations. You and the Germans also had Grindelwald, who wanted war with the nonmagical. Both of your communities could encounter perilous conditions quicker than you imagine. LeDoux, Bruce Montaigne, and the Goblins came very close to being able to start a war. Your nonmagical communities would not react well to magical humans fighting alongside Goblins and Giants and using weapons they can't understand. Your communities would be slaughtered. That would trigger a world-wide hunt to destroy magical creatures. The risk is large. It is especially large for us."

Tony, Mrs. Toms, and Captain Davies were excused, and McGonagall was tasked with Apparating them back to Britain. I couldn't help thinking: "wasn't that a truly great introduction to my question session? What could possibly go wrong?

The first thing which could go wrong is that multiple Delegates insisted that Hermione and I should have simply refused to continue the Quest in the face of obviously erroneous and extremely dangerous instructions. This despite the acknowledged fact that the leaders of all of the magical communities of Britain kept pushing us to do our duty and complete the Quest, insisting this was the only way to prevent grave misfortune to all of them and to ensure a more felicitous golden age. The Dude summarised this thinking: "Ginny and Hermione wisely recognised that the Black Stone and its instructions had been seriously compromised. They prevented catastrophe by cheating as best they could, by sabotaging the circles they were ordered to build or repair. They killed local perpetrators of the treachery, prevented Slytherin from gaining full corporeality, and protected, rather than destroying, Little Ba'al - an innocent and distinguished Delegate. They fixed the Black Stone and identified the God responsible for its corruption. They did many things right. Still, in the end, they failed to stand up to Ginny's father and the other leaders of the British magical communities and the net result was the release into the world of the worst Wizard in history, a Wizard who might reasonably be expected to return to full strength. They meant well and were less blindly naïve than those who guided them, but in the end their actions harm all of us. I can applaud their bravery and determination, but not their actions or the result of their Quest. They are far from the biggest culprits here, but one must suspect that a yearning for glory and the approval of authority figures clouded their thinking."

That thought was punctuated by a banging of his gavel.

Other Delegates insisted that if our world was in danger, then the solution - the Quest - should not have been an all-British affair. The ICW should have been apprised of the planned Quest and included in the deliberations. Questers from other human magical communities should have been included. The later decision to include British soldiers, without consultation with the ICW, was certainly at best a poor decision. Britain kept all too many secrets. The magical world consisted of more than just Britain. The British, even the magical British, unfortunately retained their delusions of imperial grandeur and privilege. British Wizards were just one community of many. Didn't I realise that?

I replied that of course I realised that but didn't even know of every magical community or its leadership. We had encountered the Greek magical community very much by accident. I had never met a member of the Chinese, or Egyptian, or Mexican, or Indian magical communities. I had met Little Ba'al as part of the Quest.

Apparently, this ignorance did not excuse my lamentably poor judgment. I should have realised that there must be other magical peoples elsewhere on Earth and that my Quest might jeopardise their peaceful, hidden existence. I had no authority to expose them to scrutiny. They spoke not just on behalf of themselves - there were other hidden Wizard communities, which were not represented on the Council of Delegates. Yes, most were very small, but that made them even more precarious and in need of careful consideration and protection.

We were asked to explain how "those extremely large spiders happen to be on our world, and the magical communities outside Britain and Western Europe knew nothing of their presence. A new, intelligent, magical people and nobody thought it necessary to inform the ICW – how strange and probably illegal under ICW rules, to which Britain had agreed, along with all of the other magical communities."

Hermione spoke up, fudging the truth before I could speak. "Dumbledore gave the spider egg to Hagrid. Hagrid hatched the egg and protected the juvenile spider, providing it with a home in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts. There have been Acromantula at Hogwarts since 1943. They are an intelligent and magical people. They have been a great help on the Quest and have been a huge help in preventing Frijjo and Vili from doing more damage. I have found them to be honourable and peace-loving."

We were asked to explain how we were responsible for the death of the leader of another magical community. We were somewhat confused, until we realised that Mr. Ein Gadi was referring to the government of Vanaheimer. "Did we intend to rule Vanaheimer or install Arce as our proxy ruler?"

"We have no interest in ruling Vanaheimer, either directly, or by proxy. Weren't you listening when we described the misdeeds of Miomor and the dire threat she posed. Were you not listening, when I explained that she and dark Gods tried to kill us - twice! Did you not understand that we acted strictly in self-defence? I didn't think so." It was clear that Hermione viewed the Egyptian Delegate as an idiot, or worse.

We had to explain that Frijjo was dead. We had to detail how she had died. We had to explain what had become of Vili. Were we confident that he would remain in his cell? No, we were far from completely confident of that. Shouldn't we be working to be totally sure of that?

"How? Exactly how do you expect us to defy a major God and make that happen for you?"

Mr. Tsieh had a ready answer for that question. It was a perverse, stunning solution, but somehow I wasn't surprised: "As I understand what you said, young lady, Vili presently resides in a dungeon prison cell. If an unauthorised person approaches the fortress, then the fortress will automatically kill him. You have only to send a person toward the fortress and there will be no more Vili. You got us into this mess. It is your responsibility to get us out."

"Whoever approaches the fortress will be incinerated. I won't send an innocent to that death. Do you have a volunteer for that job? And, do you have a solution for how we will then handle a very irate major God?"

"I know who got us into this mess and suggest that you and your Muse flip a coin. Whichever of you dies can be blamed for the offence to Odin."

"What? Are you freaking serious?" I screamed at him.

Apparently, he was. He called for a vote to condemn the Quest, demand its dissolution, and direct the Questers to rectify the problems we had caused."

"This is outrageous!" Viktor was incensed. He screamed at Mr. Tsieh "Either you are sick in the head or your people are hopeless cowards. The Questers risked their lives every day to improve magic and increase our knowledge. They will make us safer. What have you done, other than pretend not to exist?"

"Yes, those were most undiplomatic comments from the gentleman from China and his resolution makes a mockery of this body. I am ashamed to be a part of this nonsense." It was good to have Monsieur Delacour roused to our defence.

To say that ensuing debate was raucous would be a gross understatement. It didn't become violent, because we had so many witnesses present, that Mr. Tsieh and his supporters were greatly outnumbered. Firenze produced his bow and arrows from somewhere. The Dude told him this was an extreme breach of decorum and he must put his weapon away, for the good of all.

Hermione and I left the podium and sat next to Harry and Ron. The Dude noticed our departure and pointed at the lectern. I shook my head no. He pointed again. I blasted a message at him: "No fucking way!"

The intensity of the argumentation finally dwindled. Viktor spoke again. "Does this body still have any value? Are we to submit to the fears of the smallest Wizarding communities? Communities which are magical in name only. I think we all know that Mr. Tsieh and Mr. Subramanian had to be fetched to this meeting, because they cannot Apparate. Can they do any magic at all? Are any members of their communities actually magical, as the rest of us think of magic, or are they simply a guild of bogus fortune tellers?"

"That is most unfair," Mr. Subramanian complained. "My colleague may have been intemperate in his remarks, but those of you from larger communities don't understand our situation. Your governments would not put you to death if your magic was revealed. Ours would. Yes, magic has dwindled in our lands, but we are the descendants of a magical people. Ginny spoke of magical circles. We once had them in our lands. I know where it is and how to travel the path to it. It seems cold and totally dead. I cannot revive it. Perhaps that is why our magic is weaker. We still have small schools and teach magic. You want to see magic?" He drew his wand. Reflexively, many of us drew ours is defence. Far too many intemperate words have been spoken here today. I know that Mr. Tsieh started it, but the responses to his words have not helped. I do not want Ginny or Hermione to walk to their deaths. I think they are smart, brave, and determined to be helpful. We should encourage them to help, not demean them. They have had bad advisors in the past. Many of us cannot trust Odin. His family were never our gods and they did bad things in our lands. I think the Quest needs a more reliable sponsor than Odin. A local sponsor. Perhaps this Council can be the sponsor. I will vote not to support the Quest, but only as it presently exists. I wish it to continue. I wish it to be more inclusive of all of the magical communities. Ginny has all of the magical beings represented, but only the British and German communities. I don't like the 'condemn' in Mr. Tsieh's mortion. If he removes it, I will vote with him. I believe the British magical community has been far too independent and has taken, for far too long, sole responsibility for issues which affect all of us. Issues which the ICW was created to deal with. That is all that I will say, other than to address the charge leveled against me."

He drew his wand. Some in our group reflexively drew ours.

"Has it come to this? I am no threat to you? I merely wish to demonstrate that I can do magic. He pointed at a document of perhaps a dozen pages. It rose about a foot, then fell to the table. He did a 'Lumos!'. I knew that was what he must have done, because I could see a faint glow at the tip of his wand. He gathered his dignity about him and sat back down. "We mean you no harm. We are weak and we are frightened. Don't make us less safe. We must stay hidden."

Mr. Ein Gadi and Mr. Tsieh apparently felt forced to demonstrate that they were magical. Mr. Ein Gadi did very well. Mr. Tsieh lifted a single sheet of paper about a foot. He lost it and it fluttered away. He looked embarrassed as he sat back. He then looked angry. "Imperialists stole magic," he declared. That was it.

In the end, only Mr. Tsieh, Mr. Subramanian, and Mr. Ein Gadi voted against us and the Quest. Actually, on second thought, I realized that Mr. Subramanian's vote was not against us. Perhaps Mr. Ein Gadi's vote also wasn't directed specifically against us. I had no doubt about Mr. Tsieh's motivation. We had won the vote. The Quest would continue. Somehow, this did not seem at all like a victory. The Dude called a recess for the day, "so that tempers have a chance to cool."

The Dude asked us to join him for dinner. Percy and Viktor were included in the invitation. I told him that I had been to Hel, I had won, and there was no way in Hell that I intended to dine with him. In fact, I refused to return for any more questioning. I had had quite enough of his sham tribunal. I wouldn't object if Harry ate with him, but I was finished. Hermione and Ron also declined the dinner invitation. Hermione announced that she would Apparate the three of us back to Britain. We would dine at 10101. Harry was less than pleased when I told him our intention.

"You can stay and satisfy your Ministerial duty to dine with the Chairman, or you can come with us. I fully understand and accept whichever decision you choose."

Harry started to apologise and say that duty demanded that he do that which was repugnant to him. Shacklebolt saved the day, telling Harry "it is best to let Percy negotiate for you. That way you can accept or reject whatever agreement Percy is able to negotiate. Percy was both Arthur's and your ambassador. Just trust him to do his job. Your wife needs you now."

Harry came with us. Over a very nice dinner, Harry agreed that we had been shamefully mistreated. Of course, we had only been trying to help all magical beings when we began our Quest. He understood that we had no ulterior, selfish motives. Yes, it was difficult to understand why the Delegates, at least some of the delegates, had taken such a negative view of us. We had to remember that the resolution to condemn us had only collected three votes. Those votes had come from the representatives of very small magical communities. Undoubtedly, they thought themselves in a very precarious position and acted out of fear and a desire for self-preservation.

"I think they confuse us with the government of Britain," Hermione declared. "Perhaps it was a mistake to include Tony and Mrs. Toms. We shouldn't have expected a British security official to be well received. Historically, the British have done bad things in these lands. Perhaps that memory lingers more than we realised. We didn't mean to, but I can't deny that we caused certain problems."

"The Goblin Kings, Cotto, Firenze, even Arthur pushed you to go where your instinct and up-close experience told you it was unwise to go. They belittled you and treated you as irresponsible for resisting the Black Stone's instructions. You were right from the start. You deserved far more support from everyone. Ron agrees with me on this. The two of you had purer motives and acted more responsibly than anyone."

"You want us to return for more questioning tomorrow, don't you?" I accused my husband.

"Please. I admit many of the Delegates have been very unreasonable, but we need to work with them. We don't want to be declared in violation of the ISS. That vote has yet to be taken. It is the big one. I'm sorry. I feel bad asking you to return. I wouldn't be a good Minister if I didn't do that. The ICW lacks the power to cancel the Quest. They can cause trouble over the ISS. Not big trouble, but do we really want to split the Wizarding world. We need the Dude to help us cover up Roger's leak. We're in a difficult position."

"We'll think about it," I told Harry. "I promise nothing."

As we were standing up and about to leave the 10101 restaurant, Percy, Shacklebolt, Mr. Brown, and the Dude arrived.

"I thought you might be at one of our favourite restaurants. I tried London first, after your houses and Hogwarts." He led us to a lounge on the second floor. He had apparently ordered drinks, because the hostess appeared as we were sitting down and put a tray of glasses and three large bottles of sherry on the table in the middle of our group.

"This is very bad, the ICW may not survive," the Dude admonished us. "You were unfairly attacked, and I admit I should have been supportive, but you shouldn't have avoided dinner with us, and you must return tomorrow. It is in everybody's interest that we salvage the situation. The vote went heavily in your favour. Those who attacked you are from very small communities, who badly need the support of the rest of us. The amount of change you brought - it terrified them. Their position is so difficult, they have learned that much change brings disaster. Viktor seriously insulted the Indian and Chinese Delegates."

"Not as seriously as insisting that Hermione or I die to force the fortress to kill Vili," I answered with some heat.

"That's the problem. Mutual accusations and insults get us nowhere. Think of what Mr. Tsieh said as a desperate plea for help, rather than a demand that you commit some sort of ritual suicide. I know that the two of you attended Hogwarts with first-generation British Witches of Asian descent. I doubt that either of you understand the serious threats from their nonmagical governments and their nonmagical neighbors which drove their parents to flee to Britain. You must talk to them and their parents. You need to understand their situation."

"This can still end well," Percy very modestly told us. "Dinner went well after you left. Mr. Tsieh and Mr. Subramanian joined us for dessert in the Chairman's dining room. The last thing they want is to mess up the ICW. It is their biggest lifeline. Mr. Afshar smoothed things over. His community is also very small and at very great risk. They all will support us if they think we are willing to help them. None of them like the nonmagical British government - too many bad experiences in their parents' generation. You must, without betraying your alliance with Tony, convince them that you are not pawns of the British government."

Hermione spent a minute Stone messaging back and forth. I told Percy, Harry, and the Dude that we would return to finish the questioning session in the morning. The Dude looked greatly relieved.

"There are many good places to eat in Jerusalem. When you returned to Britain, I assumed you weren't returning."

"So, did I," I admitted. "We also didn't want to be caught in Jerusalem without proper papers."


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36 – The Way Forward**

We had slept a little and then met with Viktor, Padma Parvati, Cho and the Delacours. I was running on adrenaline. I worry about making errors, which I normally would avoid, when I'm in this condition. I had just a few hours' sleep in the past two days. Padma was very curious and more than a little concerned to be asked to this meeting. Viktor had told Chol what to expect.

I told them, "I have a strange question, which The Bad Dude requested I ask Cho and Padma. I know that your parents weren't born in Britain, that at one time they lived in very small magical communities in Asia. But, here's the biggest question: why did they decide to move to Britain? I don't know if I should be talking to your parents, but I have you and don't know where to find them. My second question is this: did your parents find that their magical abilities were stronger, when they arrived in Britain."

"They've talked to me about that," Padma admitted. "I think I understand. I think they feared for my and Parvati's lives. You must realise that India is a huge country and it has fewer than a thousand Witches and Wizards. You also must understand that almost all of them live among the untouchables, that's the lowest possible caste. They have almost no rights and are persecuted, but it is also the easiest group to hide within. You could be totally anonymous, with no documentation at all. My family didn't really fit in, because my mother was from a higher caste, but her parents had to hide her quickly, when she showed obvious wild magic. I guess the tendency to dramatic wild magic runs in the family. Parvati produced especially frightening magic, a sort of infant-grade Fiendfyre, which destroyed five dwellings, belonging to both magical and nonmagical families. My sister was only five years old. There were suspicions, but no real evidence that Parvati caused the damage. The ten-year old living next door was eventually blamed. The mother of the third magical family, in our little collection of huts decided that if wild magic caused a fire, it certainly would consume the home of the person who created the magic. By chance, a strong wind was blowing from our hut toward the hut of the ten-year-old boy and fortunately our hut didn't burn. Both in fear of more wild magic from my sister, or perhaps me, and to divert unfounded suspicions and actions against the boy, my parents decided that our family must flee. My mother's parents gave them money and provided fake passports and they booked passage on a freighter headed to Britain. The answer to your second question is yes. My mother told me that before we left home, her magic was nothing more than a guttering candle flame. Here it was a blazing torch. When she got a British wand, they're a lot better than the ones we had back home, ours aren't adjusted for the individual, her magical strength increased again. As you know, I never had any problems learning or practicing magic. I was among the top students in my class."

"I was even younger, just two years old, when I came to Britain," Cho explained. "My mother was just twenty and my father was forty. The story my mother told me was that a neighbor's daughter performed wild magic in my mother's presence. We lived in Shanghai. The next day, nonmagical neighbors complained and the police arrested the girl. The girl's parents blamed my mother for turning their daughter in to the police, but she swears she kept quiet. Why would she contact the police? She knew what wild magic is, she is magical herself. The neighbor was stirring up so much excitement among the other half dozen magical families in the area and demanding 'Wizard justice'. My parents snuck away in the night with me. They made it to Hong Kong and then to Britain. I'm more magical than either of my parents. My mother always said that she was a little more magical in Britain. That's all I can tell you. Obviously, I'm quite good at magic, but I had seven years of training and have learned more from Viktor and from you. My mother told me that she had no idea how many magical peoples lived in China. She met only Witches and Wizards and those only from Shanghai. She wasn't aware of any larger organisation of the Wizarding population. She doubts there could have been anything resembling our Ministry, because she knew nobody who could Apparate and the nonmagical government severely restricted travel. My father had an important job in the nonmagical world - he ran a large factory, so he could travel. He did encounter a Witch and two Wizards in Beijing and a pair of Wizards in Hong Kong. One of those Hong Kong Wizards helped our family to leave China."

I invited Cho and Padma to join us at the ICW. I doubted this move would be appreciated by many at the ICW, but it was Mr. Tsieh and the Dude, who made their presence pertinent. The ICW was to reconvene at 11:00 A.M. Jerusalem time. Our group Apparated into the chamber at 10:30. Apparently, we were very late.

"I had hoped that you would have breakfast with a group of us," the Dude admonished us. "At least you took my advice to meet with members of your community, whose parents grew up in Asia. Have you at least learned something about the special dangers faced by members of those communities."?

"We've certainly gained an understanding of the hazards they face, the small size of their communities, and their lack of a strong Wizarding government," Harry admitted. "On the whole, I'm not convinced that their situation is any more perilous than what we've faced for my entire lifetime. I know your community faced Grindelwald for a time. The Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang communities faced all the Voldemort threat and most of the Grindelwald threat on our own. I don't concede that the Asian Wizarding communities have had it worse than we did."

Hermione added: "The hazards are different in kind. Ours are greater, but we also have more, and more organised, resources to cope with them. We also face different threats from the various nonmagical governments. I recognise the problems in China and India, but ours have not been trivial. This whole series of ICW meetings was called, because our problems with the nonmagical governments may be approaching the existential threat stage."

"That is a fair assessment," Cho told him.

"It's not that we are unwilling to help the smaller Wizarding communities. We don't know how. We don't know if it's even possible." I was being totally honest in saying this, although I was perhaps stretching beyond my authority in offering Quest help.

"That's a good start," the Dude assured me. Perhaps we should delay the start of this session by an hour, so that you can meet with Mr. Tsieh and Mr. Subramanian. We can go to my office."

I guess he could delay the meeting. Mr. Tsieh, Mr. Subramanian, Secretary Afshar, and Mr. Ein Gadi were already seated in the office when we arrived. Mr. Tsieh started with an apology which was obviously both coerced and heavily rehearsed.

"I want to start this meeting by apologising for my comment yesterday. I was overly excited. Of course, it was unfair to request that you or Hermione walk to your deaths in order to cause the fortress to kill Vili. I will supply a volunteer from our community. You only need to transport her to the spot. Don't worry about her. She is a convicted criminal who will be saved from a worse death and her family will be rewarded for her service."

"That sounds almost as bad as us walking to our deaths to kill Vili. I don't understand why you are so obsessed about Vili. You know nothing about him, beyond what we told you. He isn't a threat to you. He's a threat to us and especially to our former Quester Adrienne and her son. All of that is beside the point. We need Odin as a friend. It makes no sense to antagonise him, by murdering his only remaining brother."

"I have met both Vili and Frijjo. They established a small base in China over a year ago. They killed a half dozen members of our community. Vili tricked several young girls into bearing his children. He and Frijjo left with those babies. They left the mothers behind. The mothers want the return of their children."

"Oh! I was unaware of that. He apparently knows his way around non-European magical communities better than we do. That is scary and I'm sorry your community suffered so greatly from Vili's actions. How will killing Vili get the babies back? I'm sure that Odin doesn't even know that his brother kidnapped your community's babies. If Vili dies, we will never find them. I will ask that Odin question Vili about this. Vili seems stronger on Vanaheimer than on Asgard. I think that must be where he took them. I promise that we will do what we can to recover them."

"You shouldn't be surprised as you half killed him when he tried to grab your Adrienne and her child. You have aurors and Questers and a Black Stone and well-developed fighting strategies with which to defend yourselves. We don't have that. We are easy prey for one such as Vili. You think that because Odin and Vili are Gods of northern Europe that they are bound to those places. They aren't. Of course, he didn't call himself Vili during his latest visits to our land. He claimed to be Lu Xing. He looked like some icons of Lu Xing. Perhaps he visited us in the ancient past. My people are still superstitious. They know magic is real; they can barely practice it; they turn to others to help them access the magic, which legend says was readily available to their ancestors. As the God of Prosperity, Lu Xing would have a great appeal. Many in our community are far from prosperous, and these were very poor girls."

"Ginny told me that she was willing to help your community through the Quest but doesn't know how. As you can tell, she knows nothing about your community or its relationship to the nonmagical government or whether or not you ever had a magical circle."

"I spoke to Percy about some of these things."

"Sorry, sis, we've both been very busy, and this didn't seem like something which was relevant to you. It didn't even seem like something to bring to Harry - just background information for my assignment as Delegate. This is the first time China seemed relevant to our government."

"That's all right, Percy. We can discuss this later and you can tell me what I need to know."

"That's not a problem," Mr. Tsieh hastened to inform me, "I can bring you up to speed on

. I'm happy to do so. For now, let me say that we did have a magical circle. It's dead, but I know where the body is buried. It is in a secure, underground cavern. Our nonmagical government hasn't found it and neither has Lu Xing. It should be safe for you to repair it. I will help as best I can. Thank you."

Well, that was a big change of attitude. Mr. Subramanian also wanted our help.

"How soon can you begin work on these circles?" The Dude asked me.

"I can't say exactly. We need to check seid-space for any dangerous edits or traps which Frijjo may have created. Then we need to build a circle for the Vanir. We already made that commitment. I'll tell Odin that these circles need to be our next tasks after that. I think that can be within a month, but it might take two. That's the best that I can do."

"I'm sure that will be acceptable," the Dude announced, I think more to Mr. Tsieh and Mr. Subramanian than to me. "With those two contentious matters behind us, let's move on to the purpose of this session of the ICW: do your governments have an objection to the British Wizards working with their nonmagical government to prevent discovery of their communities. Do you believe that violates the ISS."?

"I think that British Wizards must do everything they can to prevent discovery. If they are officially discovered, then other governments will search for magical people in their own nations. That is where the harm comes to us. If the help of a few people in the nonmagical British government helps keep the magical communities in Britain hidden, then that helps all of us. I admit that the Voldemort problem raised special issues. I don't accept that the British magical peoples should reveal themselves as Minister Tony suggests. That is a threat to us. He is right that they must fit into British society as individuals. We do that, ourselves. It is necessary to remaining hidden. Look too strange and you will be arrested and questioned. Our people have good behavior, as I'm sure do the British Wizards, but enough arrests and someone will talk. That is the greatest danger. The Harry Potter books are not a threat. We also have magical tales. They might ease the way, if we must stop hiding. We only stop hiding if there is no possible other way."

"That's good. That is also the position of the American Wizards. Do you agree, Mr. Subramanian?"

"I do. The British Wizards will do their best to remain hidden. Tony may continue to help them. We also will remain hidden. We will not vote that the British Wizard government is in violation of the ISS. Intent is what matters. We all must be free to choose the best path to remain hidden. Gamot Parkinson and Mr. Cuffe intended to show the British and American nonmagical people that Wizards exist. That is a violation of the ISS. We cannot approve that."

"Neither can I," the Dude assured him.

The rest was all no drama. The Dude reconvened the meeting. Mr. Tsieh proposed a resolution stating that the Weasley and Potter administrations were in full conformance with the ISS. It passed unanimously. Gamot Parkinson was called to explain his actions, as was Barnabas Cuffe. The Delegates weren't buying what they were selling. Apparently none of the Delegates' communities had families who owned Elves. Trying to re-enslave Elves was not an acceptable reason to trash the ISS. They were unanimously found to have deliberately violated the ISS. They were warned that the ICW could order their assassination if they repeated their actions. They were to advise their "associates" of this action by the ICW. If the Potter administration decided to prosecute and imprison them, it had the full support of the ICW.


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37 – Seid-Space**

We were in seid-space. We had entered from Yggdrasil, but quickly Apparated to the branch where Frijjo had once abandoned us: the stretch of ribbon which travelled to our world and passed through the Hogwarts pyramid. We had kept moving, making just one remarkable stop, prior to the more interesting seid-space I intended to explore. In fact, we were standing at the beginning of the 'heaviest' region of seid-space which Blacky had found. We had hiked along the ribbon to this spot, our birds resting upon our shoulders, under the false confidence that Hermione and I could identify the spot from the images we had plucked from our birds' brains over a month ago. We were briskly strolling past this spot, when Blacky began to squawk furiously. No wonder Odin used his ravens. It was a lot harder than it seemed for humans to navigate seid-space. The combination of changes in both time and position in space, along with the undulation up and down, with gentle or sharp curves of the ribbon from one side to the other could be extremely disorienting. Your body perceived you walking slightly downhill, around a rightward-bearing curve, but you also were travelling several days back in time with each step you took and each step you took was half a mile in the real world. It was light in that real world, so we could see it when we stopped moving. While on the move it was just a colorful blur – the soft colours of early Spring, with a blue sky on top. We were here without Odin, both because he was at Ve's fortress questioning and persuading Vili, and because we didn't want him to veto our going to all the events we wanted to view.

Hermione and I had convinced Odin of the urgency of searching out any harmful edits Frijjo had made to our personal and world timelines during the time she was free. This was the absolute truth, but there was a deeper truth, which I hoped we had hidden from Odin: we were curious about the events which had shaped our personal past, the pasts which may or may not have been Frijjo's long-ago creations. I had to know if I was supposed to be alive in the original, 'real' history of this time, whatever that meant. I think we had succeeded in keeping that deeper motive from Odin. Both Hermione and I were becoming progressively more adept at shielding our minds. We practice a little every day. Our Occlumency skills almost certainly surpassed Snape's. Unfortunately, Odin's Legilimency skill greatly surpassed Voldemort's. We were in contact with Yggdrasil but knew from experience that this contact could be lost at any time. Seid-space is funny like that. If we lost contact, we were on our own – nobody would come to our rescue if we got into trouble.

We had only stopped once as we marched to this point, although we carefully examined our surroundings. In addition to Odin's slime lights, which we had kept, we had tech lights supplied from one of Hermione's professor friends. We each had one or another of two lights which did an excellent job of displaying slight changes in colour of the weave. We checked both sides of the path with each type of lamp. Hermione and Captain Davies took the left side, Cho and Catta took the right. Since we had learned from Yggdrasil that the ribbon itself, or at least new branches of the ribbon, could be woven, Tendra and I checked the ribbon upon which we walked. Aagog, Baalak, and Boldgog did their own unique spidery surveillance of our environment. We had walked a good distance before discovering the first altered area. There was only a single edit, surrounded by large distances from where we started to the edit point and from this edit point to the spot where Blacky alerted me that we were entering 'heavy' territory.

The lone edit was faded, but it led to an adventure. I cut a knot and examined the fibers at the cut edges. Totally faded. Aagog told me "little smell, very old. Not Frijjo, not Gna, not Odin. Some other."

There were no pictures. I used Yggdrasil's magic trick to command the pictures to appear. I was rewarded with a single non-moving, all-beige picture. I could make out little detail: I made out two Goblins but had no idea where or when they were or what they were doing. I cut a few more knots and shone the light through the hole. There was no ribbon beyond the weaving. Whatever future had once forked off from the ribbon at this point no longer existed. I told the group "nothing to see here, let's keep moving."

"Please! Allow me to explore off the ribbon. In all our ribbon travels, these are the first Goblin's we've seen. I assumed this was just Witch magic and it didn't show Goblins, but now I learn that it does. This be important!" Tendra was both begging me and boldly declaring that she was right, and I was wrong.

I had promised to take more advice from the representatives of the other magical communities. They had perspectives which I was ignorant of. I hated to divide our group and reduce our level of security but wanted to maintain our control of this part of the ribbon. "Okay, everybody, Tendra, Captain Davies, Aagog, Blacky and I are going to explore this area and try to figure out why this picture is the first to show Goblins. The rest of you - please guard this spot and rest. We will be back in a few hours."

Hermione halted me, loading us up with powerful lights, two cameras, a compass, a beacon with associated homing devices, and a handful of what looked like metal stakes, but which Hermione described as 'time markers'. "pound them into the ground or rock and conceal them. We can look for them later and find out how far in the past you will have visited."

As my team and I made our final supply checks, I saw Cho arguing with Hermione about "the danger of cultural and technological contamination of the past."

It looked dark outside the ribbon. We turned on our lights and stepped off the ribbon and I blew the whistle to summon Blacky. I placed my beacon at the spot where I had stepped down from the ribbon. Not only was it dark, this place had the smell of underground and our lights revealed rock walls. We were in a tunnel, about eight feet high and twice that across. There was a single metal track running through the tunnel and a metal cart sat upon the track. A taut metal chain was attached to the back of the cart. I did not see the Goblins, whose pictures had prompted this excursion. As I walked around the metal cart, I had the sense that I had been here before, but this place had been different. There was a rock wall five feet in front of the cart. It looked very familiar. To be sure, I started to scratch it with my Mother ring. I was right! This was a magicked barrier across an opening from the tunnel.

"We're in the original entry hall to the Cavern of the Goblins, beneath Gringotts," I excitedly told Tendra. While I continued to scrub a hole in the phoney 'rock' barrier, Tendra played her light upon the wall to the right of the opening.

"Yes, this is the work of Goblins! Very long ago, old style work."

As soon as I stepped through the opening I had made, lights came on and I saw a cavern with an actual magical circle. Both the cavern and the circle were smaller than when I had visited them. There was about a ten-foot-deep space in front of me, then the circle began. There were no benches. As I approached and shone my light upon the metal web between the outer basalt stones of the circle, I got my first surprise: the webbing was gold rather than silver. It was as intricate a web as we had used, before learning the Light Guardian's design. There was a foot and a half gap between the bottom of the web and the floor. I shed my pack and crawled under. The others followed. There was an inner ring of milky-colored crystals, but they were not much more than half a foot tall. They were linked by a single strand of gold, which we stepped over. I was curious to learn how the crystals atop the lodestone were arranged. As I stood beside the lodestone, I recognised it as the same large stone from our own time.

I suggested that we all pause to 'feel' the power of the circle. I could tell that this circle wasn't tuned for me. I also felt that it was more 'off' than the Gringotts circle of our time. Perhaps the magical taste of Goblins had involved or perhaps the Goblins of our age made some allowance for human preference when they tuned their circles.

"Do you want to explore the top of the lodestone?" Tendra nodded 'yes'. "Okay, take the camera. get ready. I'm going to lift you, straight up against the side of the stone. You'll have to grab hold and pull yourself up over the edge. Ready and lift on three. One, two, three... Levicorpus! That's good, you should be high enough. Grab hold of the top. I'll give a Levicorpus push to your bottom, then up you go."

We waited, or at least Captain Davies and I waited - Aagog had left my shoulders to scramble up the lodestone. I could see Tendra's light reflect off the ceiling, directly above the center of the lodestone, and knew she was looking for a quartz cylinder embedded in the ceiling. Her light continued to play across the top of the lodestone, then she called down to me that she was ready to be lowered. I did that. She and Aagog made a joint report. There were five small quartz crystals in a circle. They were stuck into a disc of gold. In the very center was a ruby. Tendra thought, and Aagog confirmed, that there was a small diamond directly above the ruby. It was a more primitive circle than I was used to, but it apparently got the job done. I could feel the magical force and Tendra pronounced it "quite comfortable". I took several pictures of the circle, including a close-up of the webbing on the basalts.

I still had to conceal Hermione's 'time marker'. I used my wand to blast a hole where the floor and rear wall of the cavern met, behind the lodestone. I had to return to my pack to grab the mallet, so that I could pound the stake in a little. I then filled the hole with the rubble, magicked a fake stone barrier atop the hole, and Accio!ed the rest of the stone debris, so that my mess didn't give away the hiding spot. I noticed a low table at the side of the cavern, near the entrance. As we moved closer to examine it, I saw an unrolled scroll on the top, weighted down with stones, and several rolled-up scrolls next to it. I took pictures of all of them. Did we dare to steal one of them? I asked the group. Tendra wanted a scroll as a present for her father. Hermione could have made copies. I decided to try. I had a book in my bag; actually, I had The Goblet of Fire. I had only another fifty pages to read. I hurriedly went to the pages upon which I had written questions for Madam Bones or somebody to answer. I had folded over the edges of those pages, so I easily found those eight pages and tore them from the book. I used the rest of the book to Witch Sculpt copies of the scrolls. I knew that the scrolls were animal skin, not paper. I could compensate. What I had to do was get the writing correct. I had the others train their lights upon the page and memorised the scrolls, one-by-one as I sculpted copies. I was a little short of paper and binding to copy the last scroll. Captain Davies gave me the book she was reading. Task complete! I handed the treasures to Tendra. We were keeping the originals and leaving my copies. I thought the copies probably wouldn't be detected. It was very much in the personal interest of the workmen not to have the scrolls stolen from their worksite.

"Thank you so much! My father's birthday is tomorrow. I'm sure we won't be back in time for the celebration, but these will be the best gifts ever."

As we left the cavern, Tendra restored the phoney stone barrier. I thought she probably could match the original well enough that workmen arriving to enter their job site wouldn't notice the difference. We Apparated back to the spot where we had left the ribbon. I collected my beacon and we remounted the ribbon. Hermione told me that we had been gone just slightly over two hours. She ordered us "take a rest, then we'll continue our travel to the heaviest section of the ribbon."

At first, I couldn't figure out why that area was 'heavy'. Odin had taught me that a lot of seid edits led to heaviness. For our first hundred yards of exploration, we found only a single point where editing had occurred, although it looked like the scene of an edit war, with a side passage having been woven shut, then forcefully slashed open, only to be closed off again. Of course, I had to cut several knots in the most recent sealing off, both to make a hole to see behind and to allow all of us to investigate the cut ends of the knots for colour and odour. I went first. There was a path beyond the barrier. The newly exposed fibers were sufficiently bright in colour that they couldn't have been very old. Aagog had the next shot.

"Frijjo!" she told me. She climbed over to the remains of the slashed away prior closure. I cut the end of the weave hanging from a slashed knot. "Frijjo and Odin." I cut a knot closer to the side wall, but part of that rent barrier. Aagog told me "Frijjo." She walked along the remnants of this former barrier. "Odin hold weave here." Two legs pointed to a section where the weave was looser, right before it anchored to the side wall of this path.

We found a group of pictures on the main path, a few yards beyond the blocked side path. I saw a picture of a very young Snape. Then one of Snape and Harry's mother. Then Snape and Dumbledore. It was a useful trove of pictures. We knew when we were, and we knew where we were - I saw Hogwarts in the background of a picture of Snape and a student I didn't recognise.

"Do we explore off-ribbon, or do we examine the side path first?" Captain Davies asked.

"Side path first," Hermione demanded. "If it's dangerous, we can't leave it open. We may have made a serious mistake in cutting it open, but I don't think it can do much harm if we investigate quickly and then weave it shut again, if it leads to a tampered, bad, alternate future."

We examined the entrance to the side path, initially going no farther than ten feet beyond disrupted barrier. I didn't understand exactly how or how quickly a blocked off path died and collapsed. I convinced myself that if half our team went no farther than this along the path, that the others could rescue us. Yggdrasil had taught us more about seid-space, but that was just one of countless things which remained a mystery. Since our training had focused so much upon recognising subtle colour changes and identifying weaves as the work of a seid master, I was able to understand what Hermione meant when she exclaimed "this isn't a normal ribbon. Look here, and here, the colour is wrong, it isn't even the same over this little bit of ribbon. This is a new path. I'm not even sure it is worth the risk of exploring .it any further."

This comment caused all the spiders to insist upon examining the ribbon. Hermione and I returned to the main ribbon to make room. Captain Davies stayed to hold two lights. The spiders eventually messaged her "you must leave. Your smell distracts from our investigations. Please stab ribbon with knife."

Captain Davies left, without taking offence. She grabbed a very large serious looking knife, turning a questioning gaze to Hermione. "Is that a dangerous thing to do? Could that cause the path to collapse prematurely?"

Hermione shared her fear but confessed that she had insufficient knowledge to predict what would happen. She surprised me by suggesting "we can make a spear and pierce the ribbon from this side of the barrier."

Hermione took the knife. I wondered what she would lash it to in making a spear. Of course! She Accio!ed her hat from her carry bag and Witch Sculpted it and the knife into a long, brutal-looking spear. "Everyone out here!" She shouted at the spiders.

With considerable effort, Captain Davies finally managed to pierce the ribbon. The path did not collapse. I was startled when she withdrew the spear and I saw that the end half of the knife part had vanished. How was that even possible? I pointed to the end of the spear."

"Yes," Hermione admitted. "I was afraid that something like that, or worse, would happen. We are dealing with very peculiar physics. We've stepped off ribbons quite a few times. Have you ever seen the bottom side of a ribbon?"

No, I hadn't. Why hadn't I even wondered about that? My thoughts were interrupted by a message from Aagog, "I be light. I smell." She scampered onto the ribbon before I could stop her. She explored carefully around the hole in the ribbon. "Not Frijjo. Not somebody, some thing. Almost Vanir, not Vanir." She walked off the ribbon as if drunk and collapsed in a heap at my feet. Hermione and Baalak were instantly at my side.

"We cured Baalak, with a huge help from Yggdrasil - but that was burns. How does one cure a spider of too much exposure to a wounded ribbon?"

"She still breathes," Baalak reassured me. "A big part of my treatment was pouring magical energy into me. Without that, I would have died."

"Too dangerous!" Hermione's energetic rejection caused me to step back, as I had leaned over to begin applying energy. Hermione elaborated "Aagog was sniffing around a rent in an artificial path into space-time. There probably is nothing more magical than that. I suspect she may have been sickened by an over-abundance of magical energy - probably very mis-tuned energy from the standpoint of a spider's body, although the Acromantula are at home here. Perhaps I spoke too emphatically, but I think we should wait, before rushing to a 'cure', which may prove more harm than good."

That made sense. Within ten minutes, Aagog was stirring. Another half hour and she was able to walk. We gave her food and water. We decided to try a little magical energy, now that she was able to help us determine whether it helped or hurt her. I pointed my wand at her head at thought of magic flowing down my arm and into her.

"Stop! That hurt. I wobbly."

Okay, too much magic. The obvious solution was for Aagog to perform magic to 'blow off' the excess. She mind-communicated nonstop, to us and to Yggdrasil, as she spun silk to partially close of the side path. This seemed to improve her condition. Apparently, Yggdrasil urged her to keep doing what she was doing. She also should try to Apparate. We explained what she must do to Apparate, especially the importance of visualising where she was and where she wanted to be, paying careful attention to height above the ribbon. Aagog Apparated a hundred feet down the ribbon in the direction from which we had come. She waited a minute and then returned to her starting spot. "Aagog is wobbly."

"Happens to the best of us," Hermione told her.

I halted Aagog's weaving efforts. Despite the dangers of this passage, it related to Harry and his parents. I felt the obligation to explore. I told Hermione that I was sure I could Apparate to freedom. In fact, I would Apparate to a point ten feet beyond the rent in the ribbon. Hermione insisted I wait while she adjusted one of my portkeys, clipping it onto my belt. "Press it once and you should be right back where you are now standing. We'll vacate this whole area. Touch it a second time and you're in our camp on Asgard."

My visit to the side path was both safe and informative. There were plenty of pictures. I could tell that in this reality Snape had dated Lily. They were together for more than one school term. It was Snape who soured on Lily. I saw their separation and I saw her crying afterward. As best I could make out, Snape couldn't stand that she was just a smidge better than him at Potions and that his fellow Slytherin Death Eaters couldn't stop teasing him. The next term, Lily was with Harry's father. I saw no sign of a Snape-Dumbledore alliance. This path went all the way to Dumbledore's death, and beyond. I Apparated back to my team, telling them "we must seal this path. It is bad." I told Hermione only "Snape dates and dumps Lily. He and Dumbledore are enemies. I only saw Harry once. Snape nearly killed him."

My diversion had the benefit of allowing Aagog to return to full health. We pressed onward. We found a dozen woven shut side passages. Half of them had collapsed. In the other half we saw Neville as the Chosen One - that was oh-so predictable, Harry killed in the graveyard, Harry never attending Hogwarts, Harry and Dumbledore both being devoured by the inferi, Harry dating and marrying Cho, and Bellatrix giving Harry a lethal 'Avada Kedavra' in the back as he walked down the path from Hogsmeade. Aagog reported that each of these side passages had been sealed by Frijjo, unsealed by the 'something', and resealed by Frijjo.

Hermione announced that more exploration should await another day. We didn't want Odin to catch us at this and she had to think about all that we had learned.

I said "Okay," even though I knew that one of Odin's ravens, if not one of our own birds, would report our presence in this seid-space heavy spot.

"What is the next step?" I asked her.

"I think Percy and Callista must return to Vanaheimer."


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38 – China**

As soon as we returned to the Hogwarts pyramid, I messaged Harry that we needed to meet with him, Ron, Percy, and Callista. "We have to meet right now as our schedule is very crowded."

Seated in Harry's office, Hermione and I elaborated all that we had observed and questioned in seid space. "The big unknown is why Frijjo was so determinedly pushing history along on its current path. I guess all we know for certain is that for some reason she needed you to defeat Voldemort. She went out of her way to defeat the attempts of an unknown person who wanted you dead or completely sidelined. I could almost believe that Callista was working on our side, but that goes against so much that we think we know about her. Perhaps she did want to help us but was too proud in her status as an almost-major God that she could never be a friend and got too angry and lashed out when she felt we weren't showing her sufficient respect or worshipping her. Perhaps, since we are females, Frijjo felt that we should ally with her, rathe than Odin.

"We need to learn all that we can about Frijjo and Vili. Part of that knowledge is on Vanaheimer. I prefer to know a bit more before we return to seid-space. I want to learn more about the state of politics on Vanaheimer, before I feel safe to lead the Questers back there. I was hoping that Percy and Callista could determine how things are going on Vanaheimer. After a few days of down time, I could make China the next Quest stop. I hope that we can knock out a circle for them fairly quickly."

"We can do that… with Harry's permission of course," my brother assured me.

"I absolutely want you to do that," Harry replied. "Those are two very important questions. I have another: I don't want you to put yourselves at risk, but I'd really like to learn more about the Village Vana. I guess I'd also like to know more about the royals – what do they want; who is their leader; are they going to resort to more violence; will they try to stop the Questers from building the circle at Government House."

"Here's the big thing," I braced Harry, "I think that many of the answers we seek lie on Venera. It is probably very dangerous, but I think the Quest needs to travel there soon. I strongly suspect that the seid-master who kept trying to write you out of history is a Veneran. That would fit with Aagog's description of something else but related to Vanir."

"I will need a lot more information before I can support that. I can agree that it is prudent for you and your team to do whatever conditioning activities are required to survive on a heavy world, with reasonable comfort. It would be way too dangerous for you to travel to a world where you would quickly tire yourselves out building a circle and be too exhausted to defend yourselves. This sound like an issue we can take up later, after you've learned more. Someone suggested that you investigate Venera in seid space, before traveling there. I know you want to investigate the God-ribbon between worlds. That should be ahead of Venera on your to-do list."

I messaged the Questers that we would be traveling to China in three days. I messaged the Greengrass sisters that we needed to talk - their decision but it was becoming apparent that they were needed here and perhaps should take at least a brief respite from questing. Hermione, Tendra, and I then headed to Gringotts. We were late for the official birthday celebration at the bank, but just in time for the family celebration at the Gobbledygook home. The bank staff were happy to pile us into the chairman's private rail car. We whisked down the rails and were soon at the door of Tendra's home. Since she had us with her, she felt that she should pull the bell.

Her parents were welcoming, but very surprised to see us. They thought we would be gone for at least two more weeks, as had I. "We brought a great birthday present for you," Tendra enthused. "I know you love Goblin history. We bring you history from the very first circle in the Cavern of the Goblins. I don't know how long ago, but Hermione is going to try to figure that out. We left a device in the cavern, which we hope to recover tomorrow. We brought scrolls. That's your present."

Tendra pulled out the scrolls and laid them upon the table in the living room. "Ginny did really well. She made copies of the scrolls we found. I don't think the ancient Goblins would have noticed the substitution. What I have here are the originals. I think they're at least a millennia old. We also have an experiment that Hermione is doing. She cut a corner off each scroll and will take them to her professor to find the age. This could be very important to the family treasures."

If King Gobbledygook had been very pleased before Tendra voiced that final thought, he was now totally beside himself. He was also very quick on the uptake.

"I think I understand what you're saying. You're saying that the test done on the family scrolls could give too young an age if someone magically took them from the past into the present."

"That's the possibility that I'm investigating," Hermione confirmed. "Even if the little pieces of these scrolls which I'm testing come back as young, that just shows that it's possible, not that the same thing happened to your family scrolls."

"But it is possible. Is it possible that Goblins traveled through time as you did? Honestly, I've heard no stories suggesting this happened, but both history and myth give a very incomplete picture of history." The king was still very excited. "You must have the tests run as quickly as possible. Now I must examine what you brought me. I was just a sprite the last time I felt this much excitement on my birthday."

The king unrolled the first scroll. "Ah the engineering plans for the cavern. It's smaller than the cavern we have today. This must be VERY old."

The next scroll contained the plans for the primitive Entry Hall. "This is so very interesting. This is so much smaller than what we have today... and just a monorail. I never knew that the rail system ever existed in this form. This adds to Goblin history. It even has a signature of the head engineer. There seems to be a date, but it is on a long-ago calendar system. I must do research to be able to interpret it, but then I can compare this date to the professor's date."

"And hopefully to the date given by the device Ginny hid, " Hermione expanded upon that thought.

The third scroll showed the design of the entire rail system. It was an attempt at a flat representation of a three-dimensional rail design. The fourth scroll showed the design of the circle itself. "It has tuning instructions written right on the scroll," the king was ecstatic. "It is new history - very important."

The final scroll was all writing. The King said he would work to translate it. I knew enough modern Goblinspeak to be able to tell that it was mainly names and numbers.

"Please join my family for dinner. You have made this my best birthday, ever. I am so full of hope."

We stayed and messaged Harry and Ron that we were eating with the Gobbledygook's. It was an excellent meal, befitting a Goblin king. There was a spicy pumpkin and turnip soup, with all my favorite spices. Plenty of the Goblin crab cakes, just the way I like them best. Roasted carrots and Brussels Sprouts, plus a dark Goblin bread rounded out the meal. There was plenty of old port and pumpkin juice to keep our throats wetted. Before dessert, the king displayed the scrolls to his family, telling them all the testing and translation that we and he would perform. I noticed that he said nothing about the family treasures. I think he wanted to spare Torva the anxiety that he would be crushingly disappointed once again. He could share any anticipation and anxiety with Tendra and spare the rest of his family. Over dessert, which was a most excellent crème brûlée, he asked if I thought the Quest had been worthwhile.

"I swing back and forth on that," I admitted. "We've learned that the prize to be earned by Questing is knowledge. We've all learned a lot. We've all matured a lot. I think it good to see the world as it is and to begin to understand how it works. I hope that the Quest turns out to be a plus for our communities. As an individual, it has been a plus for me and worth all the danger, hardship, and aggravation. I learned that I am more explorer than fighter and that I enjoy learning and meeting new people a lot more than any benefit I get from fighting. I'm trying to make myself into a proper Mother."

Hermione and Tendra agreed with my assessment, with Tendra adding "I thought you were correct in saying I must strive to be more than an ordinary Goblin female. Now I know for certain that you knew me better than I knew myself, or at least you had more confidence that I could become what I wanted to be. I am so much stronger than I was. Standing in the Sacred Cavern and working to perfect the magic of circles makes me feel so proud and so honored to have been given this opportunity. If I die on the next Quest stop, I would still count this adventure a plus. I could not be a normal Goblin female."

The king beamed at his daughter. We thanked the family and headed home."

I had two days with harry. I spent them well. Harry even contrived to get a full day away from the ministry, although Shacklebolt did interrupt us for an hour with a series of questions which had to be answered at once. While Harry was at the Ministry on the second afternoon, Hermione and I apparated to the ICW headquarters. Tony had secured British passports for us. They had borrowed the passports of a dozen government employees who had visited Israel during the past two weeks. Hermione forged entry stamps. This wasn't an easy task. The stamps had special ink. There were changes day-to-day. Hermione was kind enough to tear herself away from Ron for a couple hours to visit her professor friend for an analysis of the ink and to prepare a virtually identical substitute, which Witch painting put onto our passports in just the right way. We didn't need to do all of this just to visit the ICW. Hermione wanted to show me Jerusalem for a few hours. She had been once, when she was nine, and said that it was not to be missed.

We Apparated to the ICW headquarters. The place was practically vacant. We explored for ten minutes, before a guard pointed a wand at us and demanded to know who we were. We identified ourselves, saying we needed to speak to whoever was in charge. "Staff meeting," was the answer. I don't know what we would have done, had the guard not spoken Greek. We learned that there were only five persons in the building, including the guard. The guard escorted us to a small conference room.

"Ah, very good to see you again," Secretary Afshar greeted us. You should have contacted us, I could have arranged for others to talk to you. I spoke of agents when last we met. Here they are. Ginny Potter and Hermione Weasley, I am proud to present Nicole Brunt, Hadi Kumar, and Leonard Jones. They are very experienced agents who probably can help you in your endeavours. How may we help you?"

We shook hands with Secretary Afshar and his agents. I told them that we had an unexpected opening in our Quest schedule and wanted to consider whether it was possible to build the circle in China, which we had spoken to Mr. Tsieh about. "There are a few problems: how do we get to the site of the circle and what materials does Mr. Tsieh have available for us to use in building the circle. It will be difficult for us to transport much from Britain to China, especially the heavy items, like the lodestone and the basalts."

"Any of these agents can Apparate you to Mr. Tsieh, or to the cavern, for that matter. Mr. Tsieh will be able to explain what he has available and what you must bring. I know that he was hoping that you would build one of the modern, purple-diamond circles, which won't require the basalts."

Damn, he knew a lot more than I expected. "Okay, but even a modern circle requires a large lodestone. We couldn't possibly move one from Britain."

"That is a problem you must speak to Mr. Tsieh about. It will take me several hours to make all of the necessary arrangements, then Nicole can take you to him."

"That's fine. I wanted to show Jerusalem to Ginny. A few hours will suit my plan. How do we get to the surface from here? I was only nine when I visited with my parents and don't trust my ability to Apparate."

"We discourage our visitors from exploring the city. It can be dangerous. Security is an issue and that can lead to your being arrested and efforts to identify you. You might lead the police or army to us. Do you even have papers - you didn't last time."?

We gave him our passports.

"These look genuine, but I doubt this entry stamp was acquired by passing through the border controls. You know they change the stamps daily - totally random."

"We matched the stamp of a British citizen who entered the same day as our stamp. That's four days ago."

"Then, where have you stayed the past three nights? Surely the police can check for a hotel registration. It takes only a minute to check. Another minute to check the computerised border entry records and know your stamps are faked. Then they assume that you are spies or worse. You see how difficult this is? I tell you this now, because to explore the surface in China will be much worse. You don't like spending a lot of time underground. I understand. Mr. Tsieh will try to work something out for those of your party who are the most squeamish. For today's visit, we do have a local Witch who has a top position in the local intelligence service. She will escort you. Both to protect you from arrest and to protect me from being accused of allowing you to do something very stupid. Yes, you have a reputation. To that end, Nicole will also go with you."

Alright then. I was not talking to a big fan.

The secretary picked up a cell phone, selected a name, waited ten seconds and spoke in a language I couldn't understand.

**It's Hebrew. I guess the Light Guardian loaded me up with it. A Ms. Goldstein has been told that her lunch order is ready. I expect we'll see her here almost immediately.**

Hermione was correct, it took only two minutes until the Witch was standing across the table from us.

"Tourists. Very important tourists from Britain," the Secretary told Ms. Goldstein. He handed our passports to her. She studied them and was about to place them in her jacket pocket. "My name is Yael."

"Ahem", I held out my hand. She returned our passports to us.

We were ordered to hold her hands. It was a short Apparate and we arrived in an uninhabited storeroom. We walked a short distance to her car. We saw most of Jerusalem from the Gandhi lookout on the Mount of Olives. It was dramatic, in a different way than London or Edinburgh is dramatic. I longed for the chance to over-fly the city on my broom in daylight, but knew that was too dangerous. Yael showed us the Gihon Spring, telling us it was the source of water for ancient Jerusalem, channeled beneath the city walls, when a siege was anticipated. When we were back in her car, she let us know that the tour was over and that she had other plans.

"My government wants to talk to you. They want you to build a magical circle for us. For the size of our nation, we have a robust magical community. There are close to a thousand of us and we have become more magical since you improved Little Ba'al's circle. A few nonmagical in the south of Israel have become magical - several who are over thirty years old. I know your community has a lot of experience with that. With your permission, I will take you to meet with my boss. He is a leader of my government's security services."

"I think that will be alright, although we are to meet Mr. Tsieh in less than two hours. We have off-world obligations and Mr. Tsieh has first dibs on our circle-building efforts."

While Hermione spoke with Yael, I contacted Harry, letting him know about the change of plans and telling him that I didn't sense danger.

Yael parked the car on a side street, and we walked toward the city wall. We entered Jerusalem proper by the Dung Gate and soon entered a shop. We went to a storeroom at the rear of the shop and linked hands. I felt a familiar ripple pass through my body.

We were in an empty office. I mean completely empty, with no furniture, whatsoever, just an extremely thick carpet.

"It's the safest way to avoid a splinch. My boss is just down the hall, please follow me."

I saw that she locked the door after us. Perhaps Tony needed that protocol. A male receptionist with a gun motioned us into an office. Two men were present.

"Please, sit. I'm Ami Ayalon, Yael's boss. My associate is Danny Yatom. We're with the security services. It is good to finally meet the leader of the British magical community."

"I'm not the leader. My husband is. I'm the Mother of the Future, more religious than political."

"You lead the Quest. Cotto said that the Mother is more important than the Minister. In any event, we wanted to talk to you. We know about magic. There is a long history of magic and mysticism among our people. Yael is magical, we are not. If I was magical, I would have given you the tour myself. I know that you've been repairing circles. Magic here has been stronger since you repaired the circle in Jordan. I've met Little Ba'al. I like him. We want our own circle. We want it here in Jerusalem. We've identified several potential sites. When I say we, I mean a few select individuals in the services. Most of our politicians aren't aware that magic is real. I will continue your tour and you can tell me if you can build a circle in any of the locations which I will show you."

"I'm willing to continue our tour, but... that doesn't mean we'll build a circle. That's not a 'no', but it certainly isn't a 'yes'. Even if it were technically possible to build a circle here, we might not be able to build one for you. We do not make that decision on our own. The Quest schedule is also determined by Odin, Yggdrasil, and my husband. We've built and repaired circles for magical communities, not for their nonmagical governments. I wouldn't feel comfortable taking an assignment from a foreign nonmagical government, without Tony's approval. I don't understand nonmagical politics or the interactions between nations. Is your nation a friend of Britain?"

"Basically yes," Hermione answered before he could.

I felt to see if it was possible to Apparate from this office. It was clear that anti-Apparation protection was in place, but I thought I might be able to push through them.

"Okay, let's continue the tour, but I need to message Secretary Afshar and my husband that we are going to be late."

I was motioned to a telephone. I picked it up and asked for the Secretary's mobile number. Yael gave me a card with the number written on it. I contacted Harry through the Durmstrang circle and White Column. While I was explaining everything to Harry, the Secretary answered his phone. I explained the situation, concluding with "but you know all of that, don't you."

Harry's flash Stone message said **Barb and Shacklebolt on their way and I guarantee you I will demand an explanation from Cotto.**

We left the office and were immediately confronted by four armed soldiers, who apparently were intended to be our escort.

Hermione and I exchanged a wary glance.

"Please, don't be upset. The guards are to protect us. I mean you no harm. This meeting is important to both of us." Danny quickly told the army captain that perhaps two escorts would be appropriate.

The only other tourist attraction we were taken to was Hezekiah's Tunnel. It had already closed for the day, but of course we were granted entry. Yael explained that this was part of the water supply of ancient Jerusalem, the route by which the water from the Spring of Gideon flowed into the city. I'd seen enough very old underground construction that this was of interest to me. It was of greater interest to Hermione, who understood some of its historical significance. We both became a lot more interested when a small section of one side of the tunnel was pushed inward to reveal a small stone chamber. We had arrived at the first possible site for a circle. Lights had come on inside the chamber as soon as the concealed entrance was opened. The chamber was smaller than the sites of any of the underground circles we had worked on. It was even smaller than Little Ba'al's cave and the natural chamber under Stonehenge.

"Do you think a circle can even be built underground in a chamber this small?" I asked Hermione. "I know Odin's circle would fit in here, but doesn't that much magical energy require more space?"

Hermione spread her hands in a silent 'I don't know'.

"Do you have a large lodestone, preferably without cracks," I queried our hosts.

"We think we found a good one. We left it in a warehouse clost to where we found it, thinking it would be easier for you to Apparate it that for us to try to get it through the tunnel. We thought Odin's circle didn't have a central lodestone."

"First, yes it does. The whole forge is built around a very large lodestone flush with the floor. It is the floor for half of the forge. Second, you are assuming we would build an Odin-style circle. We are very sparing in building those. Building one for a nonmagical government would be a very big question. Do you have another possible site that is bigger than this one - quite a bit bigger?"

"We don't have a site which meets that requirement," Danny admitted. "We'd prefer that the circle be in Jerusalem. There is only one other site we've discovered, and the chamber is smaller, and I believe tougher to keep hidden."

"Alright. Then the only other thing we need to see in person is your lodestone."'

We again grabbed Yael's hands. This time we found ourselves standing in an unlit warehouse. Hermione and I both made a very bright 'Lumos'. I could see the stone and walked to it. It came up to my shoulders and was squarish, about four feet across. It was on the smallish side, but it could work, if it had no cracks. It was only about half a foot smaller than Little Ba'al's in each dimension.

Hermione pulled out the lights we had used to explore seid-space. We split the surface and each carefully examined every inch of our part of the stone. This required well over an hour of very painstaking and, by the end of our examination, grueling work, which had us moving along the top of the stone on our stomachs. It was a somewhat rough surface and not at all comfortable to move around on. We discovered no cracks significant enough to make the lodestone unusable."

"Assuming the bottom of the stone isn't hiding a problem, this lodestone is acceptable," Hermione declared. "Now, we should return to ICW headquarters for further discussion."

Our hosts seemed unhappy with this declaration. "Too many strange men with guns," Hermione insisted.

I reached to test for an Apparation landing zone and discovered that it wasn't possible to safely Apparate from this spot. Why"

Hermione must have discovered this at the same time, because I received a Stone message. **This place is magicked to prevent us from Apparating. 'Off!' in three. I have the two soldiers. One, two, three, Off!"**

They all collapsed. I didn't think we could move all of them from the warehouse. I snuck a peek out the second person door. I didn't see anyone, so we quickly levitated Yael and her boss out the door and then Apparated back to the ICW.

We were met by the Secretary, Barb, and Shacklebolt.

"What happened, this doesn't look good," the Secretary complained, before Barb or Shacklebolt could speak.

"We found ourselves in a place from which we couldn't Apparate and decided to view it as a threat and act. Yael had just Apparated all of us to that spot, but we couldn't feel enough of a path to Apparate singly. They must have activated some device when they turned on the warehouse lights."

I searched Yael and found her wand in her right boot and a spare taped to her torso. I explained our entire journey and the serious ask made of us. We propped the two captives up against a wall and I reversed my curses.

"I feel much safer talking to you now," I announced. "Now, I demand an explanation. First, Mister Secretary, did you even intend for us to meet with Mr. Tsieh, or was this just a plot to kidnap us from the start?"

"Of course, I scheduled a meeting. Mr. Tsieh will be here in two hours. It is very important that you build a modern circle in China. That is a top priority for Mr. Tsieh and a very high priority for me. Britain needs to share some of its secrets and the products of those secrets."

"But you arranged to have us kidnapped. You and Cotto conspired against us."

"We all sometimes work with and help the nonmagical governments of the countries we live in. I live here. I've worked with Yael many times before. She's one of us. She promised me that nothing bad would happen to you. It was just a meeting. Her government needed to talk to you. You and they can help each other. They rotate onto the Council of Delegates next year. They have nearly a thousand magicals in their country. Their magicals need help. I don't think you were ever in danger. You are a very stubborn person. If I asked you to meet with these two, you wouldn't have done so, even though, as Secretary, I should be able to expect such help. You are upset about... Nothing. I arranged for you to meet some of my friends. I met your Tony and Mrs. Toms. That was highly irregular. This is supposed to be a secret headquarters for all magical people."

"Not just two - a second security leader and two armed soldiers. The warehouse did not seem safe. We were in danger. We acted in self-defence. I have no desire to kidnap these two. I have reversed my curse. They are free to leave, as far as I'm concerned. You may return Yael's wands tomorrow."

"No!" Danny objected. "You were in no danger. We took it as our obligation to keep you safe. The Apparation barriers were for your protection as well as ours. We added them last week after we caught an unknown magical person who Apparated into the warehouse. That is after we failed to catch two magical persons who Apparated into our headquarters. We asked Secretary Afshar to explain. He said he knew nothing of these events but helped us to set up the barriers. The warehouse barrier was briefly dropped to allow us to transport you there. If you come with us, I will introduce you to the intruder we caught."

It was my turn to say no. "I'd feel safer if you went to your headquarters and brought your prisoner here. We take being trapped within anti-Apparation barriers as a very serious threat.

"I need Yael to transport me."

I wanted to question them first, but I had invited Yael to leave and didn't wish to start an incident. I ramped up my defences as far as I could in my current environment and returned Yael's wands to her. She and Danny weren't gone for long. When they returned, they had with them a guy whom I instantly recognised as one of Miomor's guards. My identification of the prisoner surprised Shacklebolt, who demanded that the prisoner be questioned "at once."

Danny had a problem which he felt took precedence: his people were unhappy that three of their own had been left more than half dead by us. I assured him that it was merely a curse which induced unconsciousness and that they would wake up within twelve hours. It was the exact same curse used on Yael and himself. Could we go to the warehouse and reverse the curse? Could, but wouldn't. "It just seems as though we would be walking back into a trap, although having identified this guy I'm leaning toward believing you've been acting in good faith. Still, far better to bring them here."

"Barb will travel with Yael to retrieve them," Shacklebolt volunteered.

The prisoner said little, but what he said seemed very important. I'm certain we extracted everything he knew. He was just a soldier sent to learn what he could about us. Captain Donyik had sent him. The Captain seemed to effectively be Miomor's successor as leader of that Vanir faction. He had travelled to our world with another soldier, who outranked him and knew the particulars of their mission and how they got here. Apparently, they had 'walked the ribbon'. At the appropriate spot, his leader had ordered that he jump off the ribbon and he had done so. After that they had traveled by walking.

His superior knew the building they were supposed to enter and what they were supposed to take. All he could tell us about that is that they didn't find anything which met his superior's sense of what they were to retrieve. There was a reference to a circle component, which sent them to the warehouse. Our guy was captured; his superior escaped. Scary news!

Not only had they surprised us by ribbon-walking to our world, but they came with a good idea of what they sought, and knew to leave the ribbon in a spot I wouldn't have expected the ribbon to go. To me, it had been obvious that the ribbon exit was either our Black Stone or one of the White Columns. Jerusalem made no sense. Did they know about the ICW. Had they already visited it, or did they actually come all the way from Vanahemer to steal knowledge or some thing from the nonmagical government of Israel, which by right, they shouldn't even know about. How much had our world been spied upon.

I shivered. Nobody else looked at all pleased by what they heard.

Barb and Yael returned, and Hermione and I reversed our curses. Ami stayed with us, while Barb and Yael left to transport the soldiers back to the empty office at the security headquarters. I had no idea where that was. I hadn't been able to see outside. Still, with the wonders of magic, I was certain I could Apparate there, if the need arose.

We needed to meet with Mr. Tsieh. Shacklebolt said he would continue discussions with Danny and Ami. I hated to leave the three of them to discuss matters of such great importance to Hermione, me, and our Questers.

Mr. Tsieh was eager to show us the marvelous natural cavern where his community wanted their circle to be built. I told him that we needed to wait for Barb to return. He teased us way too hard about our being scaredy cats afraid of being trapped by anti-Apparation barriers. He said that he carried considerable weight in his community and that since we would be travelling under his protection, nothing bad would happen to us.

I was still angry enough to tell him "We'll wait for Barb. This isn't a day on which any of your remarks seem witty or even funny. I don't know how many battles you've had to fight or how often you've been ambushed, but we've had to fight way too much. Perhaps we should do this another day. I'm going to go and consult with Director Shacklebolt and my husband. I know we had a lot of trouble about that with the Vanir. We had to kill way more people and Gods than I am comfortable with. It's probably best to just build circles where Odin or our Black Stone or our own intuition tells us to build them. Barb arrived then. We allowed Mr. Tsieh to Apparate us. It was a long distance, but he seemed not to be that good at Apparating. We dropped two feet onto an uneven stone floor. Fortunately, the cavern had bright magical lighting. That, plus mutually leaning on our companions allowed us to maintain our balance well enough not to fall. Despite catching my balance, I twisted my right ankle.

"It is a very good-sized cavern," I complimented Mr. Tsieh on his choice of project site.

"Yes, as I said, there was once a very fine circle here. Come, I'll show you the lodestone. All of the gems and the crystals of the inner circle were taken long ago, along with the silver, all that remains is the lodestone and half of the basalts from the outer ring."

I was sorry that we had given in to Mr. Tsieh's entreaties and not postponed our trip: we had the second muscle-cramping, stomach-scratching lodestone examination of the day. We started on the top, anxious to determine how much damage was done when the vandals removed the crystals or gems atop the lodestone. It wasn't a pretty site. The stones had been gouged out, with some extra battering, just because. The person who removed the gems or crystals was at least as angry as he was greedy. A civil war among Wizards? A nonmagical with a reason to hate Wizards? I did as bright a 'Lumos' as I could and Apparated toward the ceiling, which was at least a dozen feet over my head - this was a very big cavern. I saw the same carnage where the quartz or calcite cylinder had been embedded in the ceiling. Hermione popped up for a quick look, as I was falling back to the top of the lodestone.

We took a quick look at the remaining basalts. They were the largest I had seen in a circle, bigger than the largest of the Stonehenge ring. They were also smoother, although someone had taken several good hacks at the second basalt I examined. The chips still lay on the floor beside that truly impressive monolith.

"We've seen all we can judge today," I told Mr. Tsieh. "We need to do a more detailed of the lodestone to determine if there are any cracks bad enough to make it unusable. You are going to have to wash it, before we can do that. Any possible cracks are filled with dirt. Somebody felt a need to trash your circle, in addition to looting it. Are you sure this location remains secret?"

"I think so. I assume the damage is very old." "We'll talk back at the ICW," Hermione prodded him.


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39 – Which Top Priority Should Be Our Top Priority**

I told Mr. Tsieh that in all seriousness, we really needed to be transported to the surface. It was both a matter of safety - an escape route in case of rock falling from the ceiling - and a psychic relief for the Questers working in the cavern. "Surely there is an exit to the surface. Every circle cavern I've ever seen has such an exit. You need to show us that path."

"I'm sorry. That is totally impossible. It is my community's greatest secret and we have an absolute duty to hide and protect that entrance. It exits into an extremely sensitive area within China. Our nonmagical government would be most upset to have you just appear there. A very detailed search would follow. You would not be treated at all well as the government sought what you know. I wish I could allow it, but I cannot."

Hermione suggested that perhaps she should Apparate us back to the ICW. Mr. Tsieh strenuously objected "You think you can follow back the path you took here. That is a very difficult thing to do. You don't know where you are standing. You are not used to the weak magic of China. You will kill all of us. I know Secretary Afshar's landing was bumpy, but he did have to account for the uneven surface of this cavern. I probably should have warned you of a rough landing, but a sprained ankle is far better than a splinched foot. I promise the Secretary will give a smoother return trip."

Secretary Afshar reiterated that promise, then immediately made good on it. I was surprised by how many people greeted us. Yael was back, but Harry was present, as were Ron, Viktor, Cho, Cotto, McGonagall, King Gobbledygook, Mrs. Toms, Little Ba'al, and Scathach. Harry hugged me, taking the opportunity to whisper in my ear: "I fear the ICW is taking advantage of us and especially of you and Hermione. What has the ICW ever done for us? This is all moving way too fast. Everyone has a top priority something for you and the Questers to deal with. We must decide which top priority really is OUR top priority."

"We seem to be over-run by Britain," Secretary Afshar complained. "It is not appropriate."

"And the ICW seems to be intent upon bullying Britain," Harry spat back. "You went behind our backs to commit us to projects with other communities, not all even magical communities. You do that after we are subjected to a sham ICW investigation and suggestions that we be censured for working with our own nonmagical government.

'I will not allow you, or Mr. Tsieh, or the nonmagical government of Israel to dictate to my wife, the Mother of the Future, or to threaten her or to put her in danger. I will not countenance the sharing of our defence secrets, unless I know they will be safeguarded and used only for good. They are our secrets and therefore they are our responsibility. You cannot just demand that they be shared. Out of one side of his mouth, Mr. Tsieh demands that my wife, or her Muse, walk to her death to ensure the death of Vili, then out of the other side, he demands that she share her secrets with him and build a modern circle at a location of his choosing. A location which isn't even known to us. A nonmagical government makes the same demand, then when she and Hermione move to assist them, lure her to a location which prevents her from Apparating away from danger. I can partly excuse those actions - as nonmagical, they don't realise what a fearsome threat that is to us. That is what I came to say.

"We will return home. We will discuss all of this among ourselves. The nonmagical government of China is no friend of Britain. Why should we expose our most vital secrets for them to steal? It is not the legitimate job of the ICW Secretary to pressure us to do so. I understand that magical strength is not sufficiently strong for all the magical people throughout Israel. The simplest approach seems to me to be turning up the power of Little Ba'al's circle. He has told me that he is willing to do that. We can make it perfectly safe to run that circle at twice its current strength and allow it to operate with minimal downtime. We don't need to divert the Questers from more important tasks to accomplish that. Our worst fear is that magical people may be turned into weapons in battles between nonmagical communities. The request for a modern circle in Jerusalem carries high risk of crossing over that line. That is extremely dangerous to all magical peoples."

"I agree," Viktor supported Harry. "I also am in no hurry to share my community's secrets with those who have never shared secrets with us."

"I did not pressure Ginny or the British Wizarding community, I merely tried to facilitate cooperation between magical communities. We are safest when we work together," Secretary Afshar seemed totally convinced of the rightness of his position. "I will summon the Chairman. Please, at least stay until he has a chance to speak to you. Really, it is only natural that the larger and stronger Wizarding communities assist the smaller ones. The small communities lack the means to help the larger communities."

"If I may," Danny Yakom interjected, "there are security reasons why the magical circle is better located in Israel than in Jordan. Our magical community is larger, and we are better able to help them protect the circle from attack. Just as Little Ba'al's circle can be operated to provide magic to my nation, the reverse is true. A circle in Jerusalem will provide powerful magic to magical people in both nations. Little Ba'al's circle was attacked once. It would have been captured, if you had not come to the rescue. You haven't fought for nonmagical Britain yet. I suggest that if Britain were threatened you might well decide to do so. I suggest that you should do so. Your community should have joined Britain in its fight against fascism. We nurture and protect our magical community and in return they help to defend the nation. This makes everyone safer and makes one unified community of what could divide into two. Please think about this."

McGonagall haughtily replied "I'll have you know that I personally know of a half dozen Wizards and Witches who fought for Britain in the War Against Fascism. Two of them died. I'm not sure if the fighters used magic in the fight, but I do know of a Witch who used magic to nurse back to health several soldiers who otherwise would have died. I will add that she likely wouldn't have fared well if what she did was discovered."

"Forgive me, that does make me feel better about your community. But why don't you teach this to your students. I can tell by Ginny's reaction that she did not know this."

"I have been trying to revise our curriculum, but I think what we need to focus on is this: with all of these demands upon Ginny and her Quest, which demands are most urgent, what must we do first, and how can the Ministry help?"

"I think the Vanir path to our world is the most urgent danger. Danny captured one of the agents from the Miomor faction, but the more dangerous agent remains free, likely very close to this location. He must be captured, and his partner must not be allowed to escape. We Questers need to explore the ribbon-between-worlds as our next step." I pulled the signal galleon from my pocket and activated it." We will leave tomorrow. I must talk to Odin and Yggdrasil before we depart. The Ministry and the ICW can help to catch the other Vanir invader. and generally, strengthen our defences. Building circles will have to wait."

I reached Odin through Yggdrasil, telling him all which had happened and my conclusion that we must investigate the ribbon-between-worlds and find all its points of embarkation and debarkation on both Vanaheimer and Earth. I told him that I felt we were beyond Questing on this one and needed to bring a larger force. He agreed to meet us at our camp on Asgard and to lead us into battle if necessary. He agreed with me that exploration and negotiation was preferable to a battle but thought that approach unlikely to succeed. "At the least, I think you will need to blockade the ribbon at Vanaheimer. We will ask Yggdrasil if it is possible to destroy that section of the ribbon or to make it impossible to enter from Vanaheimer.

Danny told me "I'd like Yael to travel with you. The Vanir invaded our country. I don't want that to happen again. Other magical Israelis will help us find the second invader."

Hermione told Yael to turn off her cellphone and put the sim card in her pocket. After Yael had done so, we travelled back home, taking her with us. It's not that I distrusted Yael, just that she was a very new acquaintance who had yet to enter the 'proven friend' category. I chose to Apparate us to the floor of the Hogwarts pyramid, caring less about what she would see there than about providing her the ability to Apparate to another spot in Britain, where I felt safe. Just moments after we arrive, Yael let out a squeal of delight.

"Magic is so strong here! I feel like a true Witch. Since you brought me here, I assume you are willing to show me your purple diamond circle and Black Stone."

She was standing here, so I guess that must be true. I walked Yael over to the purple-diamond circle. "It looks so simple and small, but I can just feel the power washing through me," she enthused.

Next stop was a visit to the Black Stone. I told both Yael and the Black Stone that she could communicate with Hermione or me through the Stone. I asked her whether she had family back home that she needed to stay in contact with.

"The only other magical member of my family is my younger brother, Meir. He is seventeen."

Telling her that I wasn't sure how well this would work; I told the Stone that she and Meir could message back and forth to each other. I told her about leaving a message with the Stone for later delivery. I told her to sit on her floor, with her back against the Black Stone and try to communicate with it by thought. I wanted to say hello to the crew guarding the pyramid and to have a quick word with Harry, Ron, and Hermione out of Yael's hearing. I told them that if Yael was to travel with us to Asgard and Vanaheimer, that I had a responsibility to keep her as safe as possible. That meant she would need a better wand than her community had given her. That meant she had to make a trip to Ollivander's. Hermione quickly agreed. Harry and Ron took some persuasion, but ultimately agreed with me that the ethics of the situation demanded a visit to Ollivander's as well as a tiny purple diamond in the handle of her new wand. I was very surprised that my husband consulted with McGonagall, before giving me his final approval. I told Harry that I needed to give Yael about a half hour in the charging oval, before we went wand shopping. I had learned from experience that if my Questers used the charging ovalss to achieve peak condition, that a half hour charge best approximated their average state. That was enough to make a difference in choosing the most appropriate wand. Harry agreed to this as well and wrote out a note for me saying that Yael was a member of a friendly magical community, who had demonstrated magical ability in his presence and that he blessed providing her with a wand as being in the best interest of our community.

Barb, I, and a charged-up Yael Apparated to The Leaky Cauldron. I was chatting with her as Barb inconspicuously did the trick to open the entrance into Diagon Alley. Seamus took quite a few tries before finding a wand match. He added a little bloodless sand and a purple diamond fragment to the wand handle. Yael did not see him do this.

I saw no harm in giving Yael a quick tour of Diagon Alley and a half dozen of its shops, including a visit to Gringotts. I wanted her to meet a Goblin and a dragon. We ran into Hermione as we were leaving, so we all ended the trip with a refreshment break in the shop of Susan Bones' mother. Over a big plate of chocolate chip cookies with walnuts and tall mugs of Mrs. Bones' signature rich cocoa, Yael explained how new and strange everything was to her.

"We don't have a separate place for magical people. We are totally integrated into our nation; except we don't do anything magical in front of anyone not in on our secret. We have an artisan who makes wands in his home. It's just an ordinary house with a bench and hidden supply cabinet in his garage. We have a Witch who makes and sells several healing potions, also from her house. There is a small Wizarding school of sorts, but it only meets two nights a week and students only attend for four years. As you may guess, it doesn't teach many spells..."

"That may be a problem," Hermione jumped in. "Exactly what spells can you perform. We may have to instruct you before you can travel with us, and we just have hours to do this."

"I can produce light from my wand. I can do a stunning spell - it has the same effect as yours, but only persists for about forty minutes, that's why everyone was so worried that you had killed Ari and the soldiers. I know a spell to push an opponent back and another to try to remove a weapon from his hands. I know a spell to block the pain of injuries. I also know a spell to calm an angry dog or other animal - this spell can also cause an enemy or guard to see me as not a threat and not worth stopping for investigation. That's it."

That wasn't much, but with the weak strength of magic in her land, it was unreasonable to expect more. She was a trained intelligence agent and had been a soldier, who knew how to use the standard personal weaponry of a modern nonmagical soldier. I would have to treat her as basically another Captain Davies. Like Captain Davies, I realised that part of her job was to spy on us, as well as upon the other worlds we would visit. I was alright with that. As we finished our snack, Yael told us more about her community.

"We don't have any nonhuman magical people. We don't have dragons or other magical beasts. We have almost no magical government, just two Wizards and a Witch who meet one evening a month unless there is an emergency in the community. We are signed onto the ISS, so these three would act if a member of our community violated or was about to violate the ISS. Some of us, such as me, who hold positions in the national government or the services are liaisons to approved government contacts who know of our existence, Mr. Tsieh's complaint against you was unfounded. I believe almost every magical community has dealings with at least a handful of contacts in their national government. These contacts are let in on a lot of secrets."

"I'd like to contact my boss, before we return to your pyramid. I want to learn how the hunt for the other invader progresses" Yael proposed. "I have to wait two hours until the airplane I would have travelled on to get here disgorges its passengers and they have a chance to catch a train into London. We have a standard protocol. A fellow agent has flown as me. We look very similar. She can alter her appearance to be almost me. She will pass through Paddington Station in just over two hours, if everything is on schedule. I will alter my appearance. If you two are coming with me, you should do the same. The British government has cameras everywhere and other nations' spies frequently tap into that network."

"Ginny and Barb can go with you. I'm going to take this time measurer to my uncle professor. It needs elaborate equipment to decode its measurement. I also hope to return with an answer to the measured age of the scrolls we removed from that cavern. We'll meet back at the pyramid. If you have time, you should practice magic with Yael and teach her a new spell."

If we had a place to practice, we could do it now. I was quite sure that Harry didn't want me to bring Yael to the Ministry. My truth-teller talent told me that I could trust her and Danny, but Harry wasn't there yet. We went back to George's shop. First, we tested how much improvement the new wand made to the strength of the spells she already knew. It made a surprising amount of difference. Then, I had to decide what other spells were most important for her to learn. I began with 'Shield' and 'Protego!'. The most important spell for her to learn, if I didn't want to put her life at risk, was Apparation. That is also a very difficult bit of magic. I didn't know if it was not taught until late in seventh year, because physical and mental maturation was needed, or because learning all the spells and charms leading up to it prepared your mind, or that it was just so dangerous that Hogwarts didn't want to risk the death or dismemberment of very young students. I was unwilling to tempt fate. We had made quite good progress on 'Protego!' by the time we needed to alter our appearances and travel to Paddington. Yael was carrying a blonde wig, which quickly went over her own auburn hair. George was now selling a line of Tonks Wigs. I took a short, silvery-grey wig, with lavender colouring on half the length. I don't wear make-up but took a stick of black from George. Yael adopted the same colour. She put what Hermione had told me were contact lenses into her eyes, turning them green. She also pulled a bright red blouse and long black skirt out of her bag and changed into them. George was a little astonished by this subterfuge, asking both of us "wouldn't it be simpler to just use the Juice?" I saw that Barb had chosen that approach.

Two underground trains got us to Paddington. We walked right through the station, stopping at the first eatery we encountered. Yael bought us each an espresso and pastry whilst we grabbed an outdoor table. We waited twenty minutes until a young woman, who obviously was her double - even wearing the exact clothes Yael had worn to Britain - walked past us. I saw that Yael was looking down and reassembling her cellphone. I also noticed that two men appeared to be following the woman. I was certain, because she made a few quick stops in front of a restaurant and a hotel, forcing her shadows to also halt. She then picked up her pace and vanished around the next corner. As soon as the men were gone, Yael dialed her cellphone. I couldn't understand what she said, but she promptly told me: "the other invader has been caught. We must pick up Hermione and your husband and return to ICW headquarters. My boss wants you to hear what the prisoner has to say."

I messaged Harry and Cissy and then Apparated us back to the pyramid. I told Harry that life would be easier if he had a permanent representative at the ICW and that I would look wholly ridiculous when next he saw me.

Cissy didn't know whether she wanted to accuse me of not 'taking her with' on our latest adventure or being delighted to participate in another truth-telling adventure. She quickly chose to be happy. Harry and Ron had three aurors with them. We all Apparated to the ICW.


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40 – So That's Why These Guys Came Here**

The shackled prisoner sat across from us. He had been forced to swallow a big gulp of the spiked Veritaserum. Anti-Apparation barriers were in place and Little Ba'al's circle had been turned down, such that magical energy here at ICW headquarters was very sparse. The prisoner's rather glassy eyes now moved back and forth among Odin, Hermione, Cissy, and me, but lingered upon Odin. He looked terrified of Odin. It was almost as if he viewed the rest of us with disdain. Secretary Afshar, his three agents, Danny, Ami, Yael, Harry, and four aurors, including Ron were closely guarding the prisoner.

"Why did you come to my country? We did nothing to harm you or yours. You are an invader." Danny projected quite a bit of anger.

"It's the easiest place for us to arrive on this world. The ribbon comes closest to your world in this city. We can't access The Great Black Stone, so we must follow the more dangerous path. Your people may not have harmed me or mine, but others on this world certainly did. Our leaders and the Gods who supported us are dead. We barely retain a presence in our own capital. Before people from this world came to our world, we were in charge and there was hope for the rural Vanir. You sit with the great oppressor, Odin. That is enough to make you enemy."

"Why did you break into my headquarters?"

"It seemed an important building. We needed to learn what we could. We wanted to find those who harmed us. We wanted to find the four who sit across from me. They are my enemies. They will not leave here alive. I am willing to die to achieve that. Others will kill Frijjo and Vili. The Vanir will be free and outside interference in our affairs will end."

I didn't see how our prisoner could possibly kill us, but I did my best to dial up my defences using Black Stone back in Britain. I messaged the others to do the same. "So, your people will invade to murder us."

"Not murder, this is war - war to defend our world against outsiders who would control us. By all right that is proper and lawful. Not all would kill you. Many say we should instead capture you and force you to listen to our position. We also have ways of detecting lies. We also have magic like your Unbreakable Vow. They would have us explain the right of our quest for worldly freedom and allow you to live if you accept our freedom. We are finished being the slaves of the Aesir or of their Terran allies. I did not think it likely we could capture you - killing is easier and far safer. I promised my leader to take that added risk to give his bad idea a chance. I am loyal, even unto death."

"Well, you're in luck. You can state your position just as well as our prisoner as you could if we were your prisoner."

"Not with Odin present."

"Please?" I made my wish clear to Odin. He shook his head but didn't appear angry as he left.

"You are his agent. He seeks to reassert his control over us."

"He, or rather Yggdrasil, is the ultimate legitimate sponsor of our Quest. We do not Quest to conquer you for Odin. I am determined that Hermione and I will be proper Muse, Mother and Light Guardian priestesses and avoid fighting, except when there is no other way to save ourselves or other innocents. I see the Keepers of The Great Black Stone of Vanaheimer and the average Vanir as innocents to be helped and protected. Both Hermione and I want you Vanir to choose your own government. We do not wish to fight for any side, although both Gina and Miomor tried to kill us."

"Miomor feared that you would impose Odin and Frijjo upon us. We fought to gain our independence. We do not count Frijjo as Vanir. Vili certainly is not Vanir and Frijjo serves him."

"You sound as though you don't know. We already told the Vanir. Frijjo is dead. Vili is Odin's prisoner."

"Not all believe Frijjo is dead. Her body was never returned to Vanaheimer."

"I've seen her body. She is dead. The Council did not want the return of her body. Not our decision to make."

"We fear Odin will release Vili and he will attack us."

"We also fear that. He has already attacked us. We defeated him. He was nearly dead when we returned him to Odin. I urge Odin to never release his brother, but fear that Odin will weaken. I am trying to convince Odin that we and the spiders will be good custodians of his world and people, when he departs his body. If we fail in that, I believe Odin will convince himself that Vili is largely cured and release him. I know full well that both Frijjo, and Vili, as well as Gna, the one Frijjo presented as her brother, Miomor, and the Vanir royals dream of conquering my world, as well as Odin's. That is our primary concern with your world. That and we agreed to build circles so your world could be truly magical again. We agreed to do that despite fearing your world. We decided that as the priestess representatives of a magical people, we had a duty to help another magical people, even if it required our people to spend a lot to defend ourselves against the time you attack us."

"I can tell that you believe Miomor was a threat to your people. I don't believe that. My Captain explained that disobedient guards and renegade Gods were responsible for the attacks upon you. Gna's allies instigated the fight. Things got out of hand."

"I can accept that Miomor might not be responsible for the attack from the rooftop. She certainly was responsible for the attack in the chamber of the White Columns. Her government hid dark Gods, a powerful magical circle, and a transporter for travel between worlds."

"That is like what my Captain says. The circle, Gods, and transporter were a last line of defence against Odin. Odin was present at the dinner. You sent for him. That terrified Miomor and then you snuck off and were likely to discover our greatest secrets. What happened seemed completely unavoidable self-defence to us. The vengeance of Odin would have been terrible. Our past is proof of that."

"And yet, your present shows that there has been no vengeance of Odin, even though we were attacked, and he knows all of the secrets hidden beneath the White Columns. I think he has surmised that enough of the White Columns have survived to still retain their function. My government and I certainly have concluded that. We travelled back from Hel through a White Column which was far more shattered than any of yours are. It makes no sense that your White Columns don't work."

"I have a duty to kill you for that secret alone."

"There are those not here, who also know that secret. It's buried a little in their minds, but they know and will remember. As a safeguard, I have just messaged all of the details I know and my logic to dozens of people."

"You can't... oh you can do that. You are very powerful. There is almost no magic here."

"You were chosen for this mission, because you are a truth-teller, weren't you?"

"Yes. I read truth but suspect you may have sufficient skill to lie to me."

"I might. I think I can get away with lies to some. I fooled the British lie machines and our government's court truth-tellers. I know that I couldn't get away with lying to Hermione. I know not being sure you can detect lies drives fear. I always distrusted Frijjo and Vili, more because I couldn't detect their lies than because of their actions, although there were a lot of bad actions."

"You could take our version of the Unbreakable Vow."'

"No!" A very alarmed Harry shouted. "I won't permit it."

"If we did, it would have to be a very carefully worded vow - almost a treaty-length vow.

"If you tried to destroy The Great Black Stone or murder its Keepers, I would intervene if I could. If you invaded Asgard, I would fear that we were next and feel obliged to help defend our world against yours. Obviously, if you tried to invade us, we would chase you back to Vanaheimer and continue the fight in your home."

"What if we fought against our royals?"

"I have no love of royals in general and I especially dislike yours. My brother has tried to lead a negotiation among your factions to produce a transition government which can lead to an elected government, which most Vanir can support."

"Transition governments can be very dangerous. Members of a transition government tend to die mysteriously."

"Well, what do you want?"

"In all honesty, which I can't avoid as drugged up as I am, my side believes that Miomor was the legitimate ruler and is willing to fight to maintain that rule. We might compromise a little, but we won't compromise a lot. If it comes to a fight just among us Vanir, we will win. How much compromise would you make in that situation? We will not give our royals a foothold. I'm happy that you and Frijjo killed so many of them. They should not be a part of the transition government. Is that a problem for you?"

"Not for me. I can't say if it's a problem for my government. I don't know if my brother Percy will be able to negotiate a peaceful transition without agreement from the royals. We don't even know who the royals are. Neither did Frijjo. I'm sure Percy would have tried to negotiate with their representative if he knew of a representative from that faction. They were all in hiding."

"That's all to the good. Your husband is here. He's your government. What does he think about the rights demanded by our royals?"

"I lead the government, but the Wizengamot also has a lot of power. I am not at all happy with your royals. They attacked the Keepers and my wife and friends. We certainly would not fight for them or insist that they be a part of negotiations, if you and the other factions don't want them. However, if they start fighting, because they object to being excluded, we certainly will not fight against them. If they attacked us in a place where we were present, like the pyramid, then we would fight. Otherwise, it's not our fight. So, if you and the Council, and the Keepers think you can form and maintain a government without royal support, we certainly have no reason to oppose that. It's not our world. We realize that. We have enough problems at home. I don't need yours."

"Do you trust and respect the Keepers of The Great Black Stone?" Hermione asked our prisoner. "You've somewhat transitioned from captive to your side's ambassador."

"I do. They've been religious figures who keep the magic going. Up until now, they've stayed out of politics. I know that you know that there are rival Keepers in the Village Vana. They oppose the Keepers of The Great Black Stone. The Village Vana Keepers support the royals as their first loyalty but would probably support us if we were in charge. That would be a problem, if the Keepers couldn't work out their differences.".

"Ah, we were stupid. We should have brought Arce with us. She is still here as the Vanir ambassador to our world. Are you willing to negotiate with her? Also, we need Percy. Harry: you shouldn't be here. You and Ron go home. Ron can bring back Arce and Percy."

"Yes, I will talk to them," the prisoner agreed.

I messaged Harry that if there was a way that the prisoner really could kill us, then his life could not be risked, since he was Minister. He messaged back that he was not willing to just hide behind me. A very disgruntled Harry departed with Ron.

"You come home, before you go anywhere else," Harry demanded. "I mean it!" I could tell from the angry tone that he was dead serious. I agreed. It was a compromise. He was honouring my wish that he leave. Well, really the wish of his aurors in addition to my wish.

I asked Secretary Afshar to please leave the Apparation barriers off. I knew they were lowered to allow Harry and Ron to depart. If not left down, they would have to be lowered by pre-arrangement to allow Ron to return with Arce. I had been mentally probing the barriers and thought I might well be able to defeat them if I Apparated to Durmstrang or back to our Black Stone - not a comfortable Apparate, but in a pinch I felt I could pull it off. I still felt a lot less suffocated and safer, when I sensed that the barriers were gone.

Unfortunately, our prisoner took that opportunity to Apparate out of his shackles and across the room. I dropped him with a wandless 'Off! His magic really wasn't very good. He badly splinched a foot. I hastened to help Hermione stop the blood and do what we could for the foot. I called over my shoulder to the Secretary "I know, I know, but I still want the Apparation barriers off."

I sensed that the Secretary complied with my request and kept them off. Hermione and I magically removed what was left of the shoe and sock from the half of a foot which remained. We stopped the flow of blood, yet again. It was a nasty injury. He would need a lot of work on that foot. I wasn't sure that I was up to it. Meanwhile, Hermione had found a serious problem.

"This guy does have a bomb inside him. I found it when I was reaching for his heart to give it a little magical energy to keep it beating smoothly. It's in front of his gut, right below his lungs. It's metal and about a foot long by a little over an inch in diameter. I think I can remove it from him, but I don't know if it will go off, or what to do with it once I do remove it."

Danny and Ami had been silent, all eyes and ears, throughout our interrogation and attempted repair of their prisoner. Now Danny offered "remove it and I'll dispose of it somehow."

"Way too dangerous. What if it goes off as you're moving it through the city?"

Ron was back with Arce and Percy and demanding to know "what the hell is happening? Harry and I leave for five minutes and..."

After a quick explanation, Ron demanded to personally transport the bomb to the ocean. Barb over-rode that idea, telling him two long-distance Apparates that quickly would leave him in the ocean with the bomb. The secretary furnished a strong box to hold the bomb. Hermione plopped the bomb into the box, and Barb was gone. I worried for Barb. I also wondered what use the Secretary normally made of a box, which looked designed to hold a small bomb. I didn't expect Barb to Apparate right back. I hoped for a Stone message. I waited.

Meanwhile, Hermione had fetched Odin, who went to work fixing the prisoner's foot. "I'm not at all sure he would trust me to do this, but he's in no position to object. I can't do all that good a job here. I really need to be inside Yggdrasil. This is as difficult as Frijjo's hand. That was a waste. She was barely healed before she died."

Odin muttered as he worked. I didn't respond until he asked, "Did you make any progress talking to this guy?"

"He really doesn't want you to ever return to Vanaheimer and thinks we are too close to you to be fully trusted. We did make some progress negotiating. We filled in Arce and Percy, as well as Odin, while Odin worked. Hermione checked the guy's guts, trying to determine if she had damaged them, when she removed his bomb.

**I'm fine. The bomb is beneath the sea. I am resting in Greece with Phaedra. I'm going to rest for a few hours and then I'll rejoin you.**

Good, that was one big load off my mind. The idea of aurors taking such big risks to keep me safe was something I was having a great deal of difficulty adjusting to.

"I've done everything I can do for him here. He needs to come to either Asgard or Terra. I'd prefer to finish his treatment inside Yggdrasil. In any case, it's time to wake him and ask him what he wants to do."

I reversed my spell. Since the 'Off!' spell causes its victim to be totally out, with no awareness of what has happened, the prisoner awoke to great confusion. The 'what happened, where am I?' The 'my foot! Where is the rest of my foot? I'm covered in blood."

"You tried to escape. I was forced to stun you."

"You splinched your landing. I was forced to finish repairing your foot, after Ginny and Hermione had done all that they could do. I hope you don't object too strongly."

"I removed your bomb. Barb safely disposed of it."

"You need to finish your treatment in a very highly magical space, where you can fully recharge yourself and heal at maximum speed. The only places we can take you to are my Asgard and Ginny's Terra. Or you can stay here and find out how well you heal in weak magic. What is your choice?"

"I can tell that Ginny isn't ready to have me in her part of this world. I'll go to Asgard with you."

We waited another fifteen minutes for Barb's return, then all joined hands and found ourselves inside Yggdrasil's parlor. I messaged Harry about a very necessary and very brief trip - just to Yggdrasil and back home within six hours. I explained what had happened. Harry was very upset when I told him about the bomb.

"Now just sit here against the cushions and drink some of this sweet tea. You are in the most magical spot in the galaxy. If you can't heal here, you can't heal anywhere. With this magical strength, I can do a little more to fix your foot, but my good friend Yggdrasil will finish the job."

"Am I really on Asgard and did Hermione really remove the bomb?"

"You are on Asgard."

Hermione pulled up his shirt in answer. "We are more magical than you. That is why your forces would be very well advised not to invade our world."

"I will promise to stay away from your world if that is what the Vanir truly wish. Make no decisions while you heal. Then you must return home and talk to your fellow Vanir. I wish you no harm and I and the Questers can help you. I admit to trusting Frijjo and Freyr too much. They fought a secret war against us in seid-space. They lost that war as well."

Elves arrived with food and drink. We all indulged. Odin kept up a stream of harmless chatter. We drank quite a bit of Aesir wine, although Odin limited the prisoner to one glass. "It seems strange not to know your name, now that we've all been through so much together," Odin finally addressed the prisoner again.

"My name is Evrrd. Are you really going to return me to Vanaheimer? What about my aide?"

"We didn't bring your aide. It didn't seem safe to put the two of you together," Danny replied.

"If you don't mind returning to the pyramid of The Great Black Stone, we can have you back home in an hour. Your foot will be as good as I can make it by then. You'll have to arrange your own transportation from the pyramid."

"Yes."

Yggdrasil transported both Arce and Evrrd to the pyramid. Arce felt that her presence might be required to explain the situation and prevent a fight from breaking out.


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41 – Exploring the God-Ribbon To Vanaheimer**

Our next task was very touchy. I felt an outburst of relief from both Harry and Percy when I voiced this concern. It was not a complimentary response. I got the distinct impression that they both expected me to just blunder along on the previously planned trip along the God-ribbon to Vanaheimer, enlisting Odin's help to do whatever necessary to prevent the Vanir from using that pathway to our world. That impression was quickly crystallised.

"Thank Merlin! I feared that you wouldn't be willing to give diplomacy a chance. I am trying to prevent a Vanir civil war. Do you realise how many innocent people die in a civil war? Way more than even the number you and your Questers have killed. I can put our relations with the various Vanir factions in enough of an equilibrium that they can grow into a stable peace. I'm sorry, but I really thought you were going to lead your troops into battle at the junction of the God-ribbon and the Village Vana. That's the obvious entrance from Vanaheimer, isn't it, just like Jerusalem makes sense as the stepping off point for Earth. And, you plan to bring Odin. You saw how much the Miomor faction detests Odin. All the factions share that belief in common. You just don't realise how easily you could ruin all the good diplomatic work I've been doing, both in Jerusalem with the ICW and the Vanir prisoner and on Vanaheimer with the representatives of the other factions. I believe that with time, this matter can be resolved peacefully. Many Vanir clearly hate Odin. I hate to have to say this, but apart from the Keepers, they don't seem to like you much better than they like Odin. At least the prisoner seems to respect you and Hermione. We need to convince the Miomor faction that your, really our, interests differ from Odin's. We need to project a helpful, rather than a frightening image. I don't know if the Miomor faction is any more able to cooperate with your preferred Keepers and Council than the royals are. I'm trying very hard to save lives. War would be terrible for all of us. I am glad that you seem willing to stand down and give me a chance to work the magic of diplomacy."

Okay Percy! "You are babbling. I didn't realise that a little bomb unnerved you so much. A diplomat in a possible war zone must be braver than that. Now, you're just showing off for Harry. He wasn't present for the diplomacy part of the interrogation. He doesn't know that you had virtually no part in it. It was Hermione and me. We advanced diplomacy. I leave it to you now, but don't you dare take advantage of the situation. We both know that I did the right thing in asking Harry to think like the Minister and go to a safe place. You know how un-Harry that is and how upset Harry still is with me because of that and now you're trying to drive a wedge and curry favour. I won't have it. I won't let you paint me as some deranged killing machine. I am trying very hard to be a good Mother and Light Guardian priestess.

"I won't seek a fight with the Vanir; I will try my best to keep Odin out of this, but I'm not standing down. I will explore the God-ribbon. I will encourage my husband not to strip our home defences, but I will take as many aurors, soldiers, and spiders as he thinks appropriate. I don't know if I will take Odin. I suspect I will have to. I certainly will come prepared for a fight, but I don't plan to enter Village Vanir or to fight the Vanir. I do intend to prevent other Vanir from travelling the ribbon to our world. That is part of my responsibility. I am more of a builder and negotiator than a fighter. From the start of the Quest, we have slaved in largely unpleasant surrounding to improve magic. I've used diplomacy. I've had to. There was no chance if I determined to fight every God or Goddess we met. Unless one of us was in a coma for most of our time in Jerusalem with the prisoner, Hermione and I did a lot more diplomacy than you did. We did it quite well.

"I agree that you and Callista need to be the ones to actually enter Vanaheimer. You will travel by the front door, by way of their Great Black Stone pyramid. You can set up shop either there or at Government House. You are far better able than I am to get the diplomatic lay of the land. I will sit at the back door with a large force. As far as the Village Vana goes, our birds and spiders will have to do the exploring. We'll make sure nobody back doors to our world and get a better feel just what the God-ribbon is like and whether anything about recent Vanir history can be learned from it, as we could if it were a normal ribbon. We'll exchange messages through Yggdrasil every day and we can both report back to Harry the same way. Is that fair?"

"That's fine. I didn't mean to insult you, but somebody needed to tell you that you do fight too much and that you and Odin entering Vanaheimer is not going to help things. I thank you for your diplomatic help with Evrrd. I hope you realise that he does not speak for his Captain and that I will have to begin negotiations anew." He stuck out his hand. I shook it. More awkward than even the worst of the Minister Dad hugs.

Harry and I Apparated home. Harry immediately put water on the hob. Then a long snog, while the water began to boil. Harry insisted upon making a pot of tea, even though I told him it wasn't at all necessary. A pot of extra strong black tea might be welcome, but I could smell enough of the dried leaves which Harry had tossed into the pot, that they were Hermione's personally created, calming Witch's blend of wild herbs and flowers. I don't know why, but the whiff of this blend caused me to snap "I don't need to be calmed. Why do you assume that I need calming."?

Harry placidly replied "I thought you were pretty hard on Percy. You accused him of being a coward. I think your last comment gives me reason to suspect you aren't calm yet. I admit I was upset when you pushed me to leave Jerusalem, but you were right and I'm well over that. I do still have flashbacks to the time right after I beat Voldemort, everybody thought they needed to protect me, at what I saw as unacceptable risk. I'm past that. I'm mostly calm, but I think Hermione's tea will be good for both of us."

"I may have lashed out at Percy, but he talked as if I were some sort of crazed killer, who would rather fight than talk or think. I did do very well with the prisoner and Percy did almost nothing. He did show off for you at my expense. I am beginning to get along with Yael very well. I can do diplomacy and thinking. I'm a Light Guardian priestess, at least I'm trying very hard to be a better one. Percy wasn't at all fair to me."

Harry nodded his agreement. We took our tea to the sitting room, placing ourselves side-by-side on the sofa. The tea was calming. We each drank two cups, then found ourselves snogging on the sofa, and then shagging on the sofa. All the tension between us was totally gone. Harry was fully my Harry again. I wanted to ask him whom I should include in my travel party and how we should respond to Vanir leaving Vanaheimer on the ribbon, but I also wanted him to be able to get to sleep. He could help with my problems over breakfast.

I checked in with our Black Stone as soon as I awoke and found it had a message for me. We were invited to breakfast at Cissy's castle. It was all very mysterious. Her only comment, apart from "a great breakfast at 9:00 A.M. was that this was "important" and "we have a lot of important tasks that we need to divide among the willing hands." It sounded like a plea for greater involvement and a new adventure, but Cissy's message carried an undercurrent of fear. I nudged Harry awake. I needed to know if he knew of new problems here at home. Cissy was usually a fearless adventuress. If she was worried, I was worried.

"There are things happening, which need mine and the aurors attention," Harry admitted. "There are always things happening. I promise that I am not keeping some big thing from you. The Ministry has its normal level of minor emergencies. The neo-Death Eaters have been kind of quiet since we arrested Barnabas Cuffe. The friends across the pond seem less interested in sleuthing around Britain in search of a great magical conspiracy. It's summer at Hogwarts. Neville has a catch-up program for the older Muggle-born, but they're all very well behaved. My budget is coming in right on projection

. Not a peep about Slytherin. Unfortunately, not a whiff of a trail to follow to rescue Mr. Ollivander. I'm hoping he died during the kidnapping. If Slytherin has controlled his mind for this long..."

I received a Stone message from Hermione, saying she and Ron would be right over, if that was okay. I replied that she needed to give us fifteen minutes to dress. When I opened the door Hermione asked "What? Was Cissy just feeling especially needy today or is there a problem of which we are unaware?"

It was clear that Ron also had no idea what major problems Cissy wanted to talk about. It sounded as though Cissy had pulled a McGonagall and taken it upon herself to call an 'all hands' meeting. There were so many ways that could go badly awry. I was worried enough that I sent an urgent Stone message, the kind that blares in your head and you can't possibly ignore, to Cissy. Could we come over at once. We all felt the urgency of finding out what had spooked her, before she just dropped it on the table in front of her many breakfast guests.

Of course, we could come right away. There would be almost no food. It was still an hour and a half until breakfast would be ready, but she thought a small advance meeting was a great idea. When we arrived, I saw that her Muggle servants were absent, and two Elves and two Witch servants were attending to breakfast. There was a very large table set with two dozen places.

"Invitation list!" Hermione demanded. She took a quick glance at the list. "What were you thinking?"

She passed this list to me. Harry and I read together: Potters, Hermione/Ron, Arthur, Viktor/Cho, Percy/Callista, George, Luna and her father, Adrienne, McGonagall, Neville, Mrs. Longbottom, Director Shacklebolt, Aurors Wood/Barb/Bill, Ellie, Cotto/Catta, King Gobbledygook/Tendra, Firenze, Aagog/Baalak/Boldgog, Scathach, Cantring, Pegasus, Margaret, twins. Wow!

"Are you sure you didn't miss somebody?"

"You mock me, but somebody needed to make sure we all met, before you rush back to Vanaheimer. There are problems here. You are all way too busy and I can help. Not all positions of importance are Ministry positions. Ginny is the Mother of the Future, Hermione is Muse, Neville is headmaster of Hogwarts, Mr. Lovegood edits and publishes the most important Wizarding newspaper, George is a prominent businessman and inventor, and I am Lady Montaigne and a Director of Gringotts. We all can help to influence Wizarding society to move in the right direction. If you want to make a lasting change, and I know you do, then doing so much yourself is guaranteed to, please, hear me out – it's guaranteed to not work. We need a better plan than just running around in response to emergencies and doing whatever Odin tells us to do. I loved my time Questing and want to return, you promised that, but it is silly to just do what others, not even others in our own community, task us to do. That is what caused much of the Quest trouble."

There actually was more than one problem of which we were unaware. "I'm sorry to be overly dramatic, but there are things I need to tell all of you, and I wanted to tell you away from prying ears. The number of potential Questers and guests has grown so much, since last I was with you. Who is Yael? Is she magical? No, Wait, let me list the things you may not know about: I don't know how, but somehow my father got this message to me. It's genuine, I can tell it's his handwriting. Then, Margaret tells me that the twins' parents are once again pressuring them to come home 'just for the summer.' Fat chance – if they leave Hogwarts, the parents won't allow them to return. The twins are wavering. They aren't comfortable around all the older students filling the school. They know a quarter of them, but the rest are from the over-flow school. There is a more immediate problem: the twins complained to Margaret that they are tired of feeling responsible for, while becoming increasingly frightened of, Steven Lester. His magic is very powerful, his self-control is very weak, and he isn't especially socialised. He's a spoiled brat, to be completely honest about it. That part is just relaying what Margaret will tell you, but I've spoken to her more recently than you have.

The second part is equally bad: I received a message from my father. I don't understand how he could manage to get a message past the aurors and to me, but he did. The message says 'I don't know that I care to wait as long as I promised. That was an agreement with Arthur. Arthur is gone. Perhaps I'll take my revenge much sooner.' That chilled me. I don't believe father is an intelligent man, or all that sane, but he does have feral cunning. I'm quite sure he also has hidden resources and allies. I doubt his threat was idle. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I hear a lot. I know Harry is very worried about a leak. This second problem convinces me that my father has succeeded in bribing an auror. That auror may be your leak."

"I thank you for that alert. I will ask Director Shacklebolt to re-vet all the aurors who have guarded your father. I know with the rush of small emergencies, that long-standing issues like the twins and the Lesters don't get my consistent attention as Minister. I know they are too important to drop. I imagine it's a lot for Neville to handle. That's a reason why I was happy to have you spending some time back at Hogwarts. I realise there is much to discuss, but I'm not happy about discussing it in front of such a big group."

"Why? They have a right to know. We've all supported you. I think you do a good job, but you are still a loner who wants to solve the current problem yourself. You don't seem to understand that problems aren't solved forever, just because you fixed them once. I know that my father will always be a problem. I always wonder if my brother will return and if he will still be a problem when he does. Margaret and I always worry about the twins and watch out for them as much as we can. I've had a lot of other activities, so most of this has fallen upon Margaret. Neville can't be obvious about specifically watching out for two students.

"You need to put a person or team in charge of each problem and have them report back to you. That way you have time to do what you need to do, and you stay up to date on all the important problems. It will also reduce fights within the family. If the job and the problems destroyed Mr. Weasley, who understands the Ministry better than you do, they will also destroy you if you can't figure out a way to survive. I'm feeling that neither you, nor Neville, nor Ginny is making proper use of my abilities and resources. I know Margaret agrees. The 'go to Hogwarts and pitch in if you think the twins or Steven need help' is sort of weak. I considered inviting Fran Lester to this meeting but thought better of doing so without asking first. She isn't clearly friend or foe. She'll help us or oppose us, depending upon what she thinks is best for Angela and mainly for Steven. The troubled child gets the most attention, especially if the child is male. I know that from my own family. You also should know that, as Lady Montaigne, I talk to Tony as much as you do. He's worried about the Lesters. He knows them well. He says that the parents will not sit passively, while you adopt a solution for their children. They don't see their children as a problem in need of your solution. Hogwarts is determined to keep parents at a huge distance. You've got the mother at Hogwarts much of the time, but the husband complains to Tony twice a week."

Oh!

Harry contacted Shacklebolt and Wood through the Stone. I didn't eavesdrop. I want both the Stone and Harry to think well of me. At the end of the message, Harry did very excitedly vocalise "that's the guy I want you to focus on. He may be both the leak and the traitor who helped the former Lord!" Harry turned to the rest of us and explained "the former lord was basically guarded by three rotating aurors. When Arthur resigned and I became Minister, most of his personal aurors were reassigned, because McGonagall only wanted one of them. One of these aurors ended up guarding the former lord. I think he's our man. If I can trouble the three of you to be truth-tellers after we finish Cissy's breakfast..."

Cissy seemed relieved that Harry was beyond criticising the calling of this huge breakfast meeting. In fact, Harry announced "I think the cast of characters for breakfast will be alright. We can cover the twins and Lesters lightly and have an after-breakfast meeting where all the Lesters and the twins can participate. At breakfast, I just want to hear Margaret's view of the problem, but not discuss it. I do want to discuss a better way to teach the older students what they need to know. Neville and Deputy Minister McGonagall have thought a lot on that problem and have a solution which makes sense to me."

Shacklebolt arrived for breakfast with Wood and Mrs. Longbottom. "I'm saving the final interview for you and your truth-tellers, but I'm convinced we've got our man. Bill has gone to search his home. It's been a glorious start to the day."

The breakfast food was truly excellent. I have no idea where she found it, but Cissy had the best ham I have ever tasted. The omelette contained crab, with the same spices as the Goblin crab cakes. The crepes contained asparagus and were slathered in a super-rich pink sauce with a lot of sharp cheddar and a hint of tomato and basil. The orange juice had another juice added and was wonderful. The meeting began over coffee and a huge assortment of pastries. I ate way too much, but I was nervous how this meeting would go. I don't know why Harry hadn't just declared it too many people.

Harry as leader of the group, but with the support of the majority, declared the coming trip to Vanaheimer to be "not Quest. I think Ginny, Hermione and their Questers need to learn more from Yggdrasil and Odin, and then lead the exploration of the God-ribbons. The primary goal of the Quest is the acquisition of knowledge. This fits with that. Cissy needs to participate. She will benefit from what Yggdrasil and Odin can teach her. After that, and participating in the exploration of the ribbons, I need her back here. I realise that the Questers must briefly camp on the ribbon outside Vanaheimer, while their birds explore. After that, it's garrison duty - the natural job of aurors and the British soldiers. The spiders can be a huge help with that. Odin and Scathach can also be a huge help, but there are more important things for the Questers to do."

Harry lauded the diplomatic efforts of me, Hermione, and the Questers, but declared that the job of negotiating a transitional Vanir government must be up to Percy and Callista. The Questers had been forced to fight too many Vanir and had to stand by while Frijjo slaughtered prisoners. We wouldn't be welcome among many Vanir and part of Percy's job wat to make it safe for us to return among the Vanir. If that wasn't possible and a circle must be built, well, the Ministry did have magical engineers. Wow! I felt at least a little put down by my husband. The group thought I needed to give Percy and Callista a good head start with their diplomacy back on Vanaheimer, before I showed up at the back door. There was a danger of a large party of us being discovered at the back door, while Percy was talking peace. It would look totally duplicitous. I had to concede that this was a valid point. Percy should make it known that we wouldn't be building circles until their local politics was much more settled. I could show up at the back door a week or more later, but only the birds and spiders could enter Vanaheimer and they must be very careful not to get caught. It would be best if we camped well away from the ribbon exit to Vanaheimer. We did have the excuse that Vanir had, once again, come to our world, but these were very touchy times and it was best not to be overly provocative.

We would attend the second half of the meeting with all the Lester's, then off to participate in the interrogation of the traitorous auror. The group decided that we must learn what we could from him, then force him to go back to guarding the former Lord Montaigne and see if he was given any other notes to deliver. We could jail him for such a short time, even if he were tried and found guilty of his minor favors for bribes racket, that we might as well let him off with a stern warning. It was a solitary Gringotts cell for the former Lord, once the charade had played out. Cotto would question the Elf who served the former Lord.

Cissy said what should have been completely obvious "I have duties as Lady Montaigne. I must put in appearances in the Muggle world. So does Fran. She's a famous person and she's been away too long. Her children have been away too long. Her husband is extremely lonely and unhappy. The Lester's must go home and be visible. They must heal as a family." That obvious wisdom drove us to the proper conclusion. The group thought it best that all the Lesters return to their estate for the duration of summer break. Those of us who would meet with them were charged with making that happen. What to do with the twins was trickier. Going home must be prevented at all cost. They also couldn't go with the Lesters – Steven was getting on their nerves and Fran wasn't yet trusted to provide adult supervision of the twins. Cissy volunteered her castle, acknowledging that she was unlikely to be traveling with us for much more than a week. Margaret volunteered to man the castle until she returned. Ron volunteered to assist her.

The discussion on the older students was most interesting and showed me what a huge problem this was and how all the previously attempted solutions had been at least inadequate and most likely, very wrong.

"As headmaster of Hogwarts, I've naturally seen a lot of the older students, especially at the start of this summer. The essential goal of their education is to train them in the use of their wand, and thus, tame their wild magic. The very important goal is to teach them about our community. They must understand it well enough to feel a part of it, to feel loyalty to it, and to understand the importance of secrecy. They do not need to earn a living or live in our world. We've said we want to teach the members of our community to exist and blend into the larger Britain. Well, these newly magical older Britain's can already blend in. They have a lot to teach the rest of us in that regard. We've done well in taming their wild magic. We've done a horrible job of making them feel part of our community.

"What is required? It certainly won't require seven years to learn what they must learn. Professor McGonagall think two years at most, perhaps just a full year, including summer. They need to be able to experience the wonder of the magical world: the magical beasts, all the intelligent magical peoples, the whimsical beauty of Hogwarts and the Wizard commerce in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. They must visit the Ministry, observe the Wizengamot debate a law and judge a criminal case, read our newspapers every day, explore the subterranean Gringotts, set foot on Asgard, watch a Quidditch match, visit Durmstrang or Beauxbatons. If they have close nonmagical family members, they must not be torn from their families. We also must stop doing that to Hogwarts-aged students. As educators, we should not be in the business of shattering families. That also is a threat to secrecy. I've listened intently to Hermione's description of her problems. As headmaster, I've talked repeatedly to her parents. It's a wonder they didn't give us away or insist that Hermione never return to Hogwarts.

"We have prepared a twelve-month curriculum for adult, newly-magical Britons. Hermione's parents have endorsed it. It involves a lot of field trips; it involves a summer and one-month in-session at Hogwarts. The older students can be a stabilising influence. With just a seventh of the adults at Hogwarts at any given time, they won't swamp us. I have found a location in Diagon Alley, where two shops have gone out of business, to be the main school for adults. It is highly defendable, and I and others have strongly magicked it. The recent slaughter of adult students was an abomination which must not be repeated. The present satellite school in Scotland will be used only for the first weeks, until a student's wild magic is well enough under control to move them to Diagon Alley.

"We also have changes for Hogwarts, but I've talked enough, we should save that for another day."

As soon as Neville sat down, McGonagall sprung to her feet. "We want to avoid the problems Harry and Hermione encountered as new Hogwarts students, and that goes beyond clamping down on Slytherin bullies. We will have a one-week orientation session for new students and parents, when the parents aren't already a part of our community. Those students and their parents will be Apparated to Diagon Alley to purchase their school supplies and for the students to board the Hogwarts Express after that orientation is over. We will rename Mr. Granger's course as British Studies and will select a graduating adult student to assist him. BIG curriculum changes on the way, but I'll say no more for now. Well, I'll say one more thing, but I don't want to get into solutions until we've met with the Lester's and I've had a week to discuss what they tell us. I'll say this much: we need a Wizarding school for those with early wild magic. I've reviewed auror reports from the past decade concerning incidents of underaged magic requiring aurors to obliviate ordinary Britons. There were one-hundred-and-fifty-three such incidents, over half of which involved children already a part of our community. Ten of the individuals were repeaters, one girl four times - I won't name names, but she was an excellent student. Enough said for now."

The main meeting broke up. The four of us, plus Neville, Margaret, the twins, and McGonagall remained for the meeting with the Lesters. The meeting went surprisingly well. The Lester's heartily agreed that they should spend the summer at home. They liked the idea of a separate school for young Wizards. Angela felt she fit in well in Gryffindor and that she had learned a lot very quickly. Fran felt able to safely access her magic. Everyone felt that Steven was doing far better in properly calibrating his magic. They liked Neville's and McGonagall's proposed changes for educating magical persons identified in the general British populace. Fran felt that Steven was recovered from the shock of his new magic and didn't need her to be present as much. She wanted to work two days a week at the new underaged school so she could keep tabs on Steven and assure him that he wasn't abandoned by his mother.

Harry said that since Mr. Lester was listed in the New Start Society, that perhaps I should give him a good charging up in the pyramid oval and see if that jogged any latent magical ability. He mentioned our experience with Mister Filch. The senior Lesters were overjoyed by this suggestion and I didn't REALLY mind that Harry had simply volunteered the use of my, well really our community's, oval. It was something I should have offered myself. As Harry said we wouldn't interrogate the prisoner auror for about an hour, I offered to give Mr. Lester some time in the charging-up oval right away. I thought I had handled my short-lived pique well and that nobody had noticed. Then I received a Stone message from Harry.

**I'm sorry if I upset you, but there is auror business and there is Quest business. I won't be the Minister forever. Before long you'll still be the Mother of the Future and I'll be Mister Mother. But your mother will tell you that at times the wife of the Minister has responsibilities. You are the expert at the Black Stone, its circles, and the charging ovals, but they really belong to our whole community, so as Minister I can suggest that we give Mr. Lester an experimental charge-up.**

I apologised to Harry, admitting that at times I was too possessive of all things Quest related. Of course, I would cheerily show the Lesters around the pyramid. I understood that they were important, even though I shared some of Ron's views about how my family had been portrayed in Fran's books. Security of the pyramid was more Harry's responsibility than mine, although it was a shared obligation. I certainly didn't want to have the awkward-snog equivalent of the awkward-hugs I had become accustomed to with Minister Dad. That was a horrible thought. Harry had to return to the Ministry. In front of everyone, I gave him a totally unprofessional proper snog. Sometimes you just must be a little inappropriate in order to serve the more important good.

I gave Mr. Lester a forty-minute charge-up, while I showed Fran and her children around the pyramid. I then lent Mr. Lester one of my wands to test for the presence of any newly awakened magical ability. Cissy and I urged him on. There was absolutely nothing. I consoled him: "I don't think you are magical, at least you're not magical now, but you should also know that many of the Britons who became magical after we restarted other circles around here didn't show magic until a month after those events. We'll test you again in a few weeks. We just don't understand the start of magic in adults well at all."

Mr. Lester thanked me but was clearly very disappointed. Fran sympathised with him and tried to jolly him into a happier mood, as Hermione, Cissy and I prepared to Apparate all the Lesters back to their home. We lingered on their lawn for a few minutes. Mr. Lester appeared happier than he had been, when he couldn't produce magic. We wished them a happy summer.

I told Cissy "I'm sorry I was initially negative about the size of your breakfast crowd. I must admit that it all went well, and we accomplished quite a lot for such a short meeting."

Cissy gave me a big hug and did a little happy skip and dance, before the three of us Apparated to the Ministry.

We sat in on the interrogation of the auror, Oswald Filch. Yes, he was the brother of the Hogwarts' caretaker. He seemed awed by the situation he found himself in, facing three very young truth-tellers and being questioned by his Director and the Minister. His answers were completely honest. I think he knew at once that lying was futile and would harm his position. He didn't oppose what the current administration was trying to do in modernising our community. He had no allegiance to the original or to the neo-Death Eaters. He did have concerns about how many recent Ministers had not been elected to the position. He thought Harry quite young for the job but had nothing against him. He had a son who was a Squib. He needed money to get the boy off to a good start in the Muggle world. "He needed a proper education, didn't he? I'm not one to just chuck his boy out into the Muggle world. I've heard of The New Start Society, but that ain't for humble folks like me, is it? Not every Squib is as lucky as my brother was to snag a position at Hogwarts. It seemed harmless when I started selling information to Mr. Cuffe. Didn't say anything that Minister Weasley and my Director weren't practically shouting in the cafeteria and hallways. I wouldn't seriously violate my auror responsibilities. Lay down my life for the Minister, I would. Lord Montaigne was such a sad, broken man. Knew him when he were grand. He just wanted to send a letter to his daughter. I didn't see the harm in that. Couldn't know it were a threat, could I? I'm sorry. What will happen to me and what will happen to poor, nonmagical Albert when I go to prison. No fun going to prison when you've been an auror."

His tone became much more positive when it was explained what he could do to avoid prison, or even arrest. Yes, of course he would help the scheme. The Lord had betrayed his trust, hadn't he? He would do what he had to do. He was grateful that he would keep his job, even if he had to begin with less sensitive assignments. He was gobsmacked when Harry told him "I will insist that The New Start Society help Albert. We are becoming more open about such things. Cissy is now in charge of that society and I am on its board. Have no fear, Albert will be looked after properly."

"Of course he will," Cissy reinforced Harry's promise. "It is not just for the aristocratic families anymore. We've recovered a lot of illegal money from my brother, father, and the Malfoys."

Hermione and I had dinner and the night with our husbands, before we had to be off with the advance party to Asgard. I'm very sure that I convinced Harry there were no lingering hard feelings from our brief disagreement. He certainly convinced me.

The advance party to Asgard was limited to Hermione, Cissy, Ellie, Cho, Barb, Aagog, and me. Breakfast with Odin was speedya. He was very welcoming but hurried us off to Yggdrasil's library. We were all told the secret of repairing a White Column. The Black Stone of whichever world supplied the energy, through the White Column, to power and organise the repair. The Columns were self-repairing if supplied with the proper raw materials. Repairs required fine sand, powdered alabaster, a small amount of lodestone sand, and... a full third of the mix had to be powdered Black Stone. A Black Stone had the ability to shed a thin outer layer as fine powder. This process had the added benefit of keeping the Black Stone's surface perfectly smooth and shiny. Apparently, we had to mix the ingredients, pour them at the base of the damaged White Column, then enter the local Black Stone and persuade it that the injured White Column deserved to be healed, or at least that its people deserved to have a fully-formed White Column.

I asked Yggdrasil what must be done if, as was the case with the White Column under what was left of Azkaban, the column was destroyed and had to be created from scratch. Apparently, this was a very difficult thing to do - certainly beyond our present magical capabilities. Surely, we could find pieces of the Azkaban Column. The process didn't require all that many pieces and they didn't need to be extremely large. The more of the White Column which had to be re-grown, the more raw materials were required. Of course, Hermione had a piece of the Azkaban Column in her bag. It was an irregular piece about six inches in diameter.

**It can work. I will teach you more. This will stretch your abilities. It would be most helpful if you found additional pieces. There must be a larger piece than that one.**

Did the repaired White Column need to be on Azkaban Island? Could it be moved just a few hundred miles to mainland Scotland?

**Harder still. The location of the White Columns are most particular. The spot must be most magical. It should be proximate to a ribbon. I fear to do such a thing is beyond your abilities. White Columns typically penetrate the bedrock. Isn't the base of your column intact? That buried shard could interfere with the creation of a new column. That mortally wounded White Column yearns to be whole. It is the dying remnant of a living thing, almost as live as your Black Stone, or even me. It will fight for life if you use your Black Stone to power the birth of a new White Column. Three White Columns on a world are one too many. I don't mean to steal thoughts from your mind, but yes, three side-by-side White Columns on Vanaheimer is most unusual and most dangerous. Perhaps that is why the Vanir do not attempt to repair their own columns. The Servers know many ancient secrets.**

Yggdrasil gave us more lessons. We learned how we might force a recalcitrant broken White Column to wait its turn for repair. Our world might do well with three widely separated White Columns, although this was most unusual. In a pinch, a Black Stone could grow and bud off a White Column. Yggdrasil would teach our Black Stone how to do this. We would have to supply the raw materials and carefully remove the bud, to avoid damage either to our Black Stone or the new White Column. We were shown what we must do to silver the White Column into the bedrock. We would talk more. It was too dangerous to attempt this without further instruction. We might first try this trick with Yggdrasil itself. It was far more capable than our own Black Stone.

When the rest of our party, including a dozen soldiers, four large spiders, and ten aurors in addition to the full Quest team, minus McGonagall, arrived Odin Apparated all of us to the point where Frijjo had first led us onto the God-ribbon. We had Fawkes and seven ravens with us. We said hello to the spider sentries and marched down the ribbon in the direction of the God-ribbon-between-worlds. It was a stomach-churning, disconcerting walk, but we came to the ribbon-between-worlds after walking for only two hours. I had no idea where we were in time.


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42 – Many Portals To Many Worlds**

Odin taught us how to spot the portals and how to distinguish an exit-only portal from an in-and-out portal. We had seen no moving pictures on the time-based God ribbon, which we had followed to this ribbon-between worlds, so I expected to see none here. I saw no pictures as we quickly approached the Asgard portals. I did sense 'strange' as we walked. Although the ribbon was a full eight feet wide, I felt insecure upon it. On all sides was the blackness of space, which we had experienced when our Black Stone sent us on a rapidly traveling ribbon to other worlds. We had been stationary for that, hanging on for dear life. Now we had to walk, and the walking wasn't normal. I felt lighter than normal, little more than half my normal weight. I craved guardrails on either side of the ribbon. I wasn't alone in this feeling. Aagog was lying across my shoulders and I could sense how nervous she was as I negotiated turns in the ribbon, where the whole ribbon tilted on its side. The feeling that one might fall off was severe. I just put one foot in front of the other and forced myself to keep moving.

We identified in-and-out portals inside Yggdrasil, at the pyramid, and at Valhalla. This last portal might prove to be a problem, as it was under the control of Sigrun, or would be if she learned of its existence.

Reading my mind, Odin spoke "Oh she knows, how do you think she rescues the souls of brave warriors from other worlds? Hel somehow had this portal blocked, but I assume it is now fully operative. At least Sigrun has stopped complaining to me about it."

The exit-only portals were next: at Valaskjalf, at the government building, and at the center of a large expanse of green-grass prairie. "There used to be a small city of two-hundred thousand Aesir here. There was an ancient temple at this very spot. It all disappeared millennia ago. If you take over responsibility for Asgard, you must build a new city and Light Guardian temple here. Because of our last adventures, the population is once again rising. I brought my people back from the world where I stashed them, and our numbers are now doubled. I feel much more comfortable with the thought of leaving my world. You or Vili must replace me. Whoever must work cooperatively with the spiders to help the Aesir flourish and respect the spiders and the other worlds of the living."

Okay. I sort of committed myself to assume that responsibility, urging Odin not to depart too swiftly.

I had noticed that each of the portals bore a label in the language of the ancient Aesir. It was close enough to 'old Aesir' that I could sort of read it. Not surprisingly, Hermione did even better at interpreting the labels than I did. She matched Odin's skill. Perhaps he had taught her this tongue, since she read the labels aloud in the ancient language, something I didn't dare to even attempt.

Although it had only been a very short fifteen-minute awkward walk along this ribbon to reach the Asgard portals, we hiked for six hours to reach the next grouping. It was an utterly nerve-racking experience. The dark nothing on all sides of us was oppressive and at least a little scary. Every banked turning of the ribbon had me moving uphill to what seemed like greater safety, if I started slipping toward the down-sloping edge. Slipping seemed a real possibility as it seemed as though I weighed very little. I had tried taking normal steps, but my body bounded up a foot with each step. This was too much for Aagog. She crawled down my back and scrabbled along on her own. I switched to shuffling my feet along, not allowing them to rise more than an inch above the ribbon. I could tell that everyone else was proceeding with extreme caution. My mother's long-ago instruction to little girl me that I must always pick up my feet when I walked, lest I trip, did not apply here. Everyone was shuffling along, and Hermione instructed us to just scuff our feet along the ribbon. I saw a star with planets ahead of us. I could feel my weight increasing a little the closer I came to it, although I was still a small fraction of normal weight.

I could see portals ahead of us. The labels said Vanaheimer. The in-and-out portals were at the White Columns and the Village Vana. We walked right past both portals in search of exit-only portals. There was only one of these and it opened onto a mile-across island, with ocean as far as we could see. It was far too risky to exit, so we didn't. we did set up camp beside this portal, since it at least provided a poor emergency escape - a very poor emergency escape. I saw no sign of inhabitants on the island and no ships on the sea.

It seemed unwise to send ravens over the City, so we limited ourselves to sending half of our ravens out the in-and-out portal to the Village Vana, with Fawkes as top cover, just in case. The portal was above ground - I could see stars; we seemed to be on the outskirts of the village since I saw only three buildings in the medium distance, and only one person; obviously, it was night - that gave the birds a fair chance to get to altitude without being spotted. We had all thought to our birds, as hard as we could: "memorise the location of the portal. Fly away from the village to gain altitude. Observe from altitude. Don't return during daytime." Hermione had stressed the importance of this to all of us, not trusting that the ravens would just somehow know to do the right thing.

With the birds gone, there was nothing for us to do but wait. We would have a day's wait. Depending upon what this flight reported back, we would send out Aagog and the other half of the birds. Poor Fawkes would have to do double duty as protector. The wait gave us time to give the second flight of birds a longer briefing. I especially wanted to pound the "take no risks; don't be seen; do not travel during the day. My message to Aagog was the same, with the added "you can stay one extra day if you hunker down during daytime and if it is absolutely essential to learn what must be learned." I knew how vague that last part was, but I trusted Aagog to use her discretion.

While we waited, Odin continued to explain the intricacies of finding the portals and determining which would permit re-entry to the ribbon. It wasn't as simple as the in-and-out portals came first from this direction. That this was true for both Asgard and Vanaheimer were mere coincidence. He explained the tricky approach to locating and using the in-and-out portals to re-enter the ribbon from normal space. "You can't climb in. You can only Apparate back to the ribbon. You will only succeed in doing that if the ribbon recognises you. You must have travelled on the ribbon or the ribbon must be told by a Black Stone, preferably by Yggdrasil, that you are blessed. What you call side-Apparation sometimes works. I could probably do it with one of your British soldiers. I am not at all convinced that any of you could do that. I've been thinking about Aagog. We certainly don't want her stranded on Vanaheimer. The spiders have great facility on the regular ribbon. I think they must have a way to get back to this ribbon. I just don't know. We should contact Yggdrasil. I think we can do it from here, if we move closer to the portal. We are sitting as far in Vanaheimer's past as we were in Asgard's when we walked back to the time of the Great Fire. That is a problem with the God-ribbons. It is hard to know exactly where or when you are. The birds are a lot better at this sort of thing than we are."

I hoped that the God-ribbon-capable 'the birds' whom Odin referred to included Fawkes. It would have been nice to have had this discussion with Odin before committing Fawkes to the Village Vana. If Fawkes couldn't return, Hermione and I would have to dismount this ribbon to retrieve her. I wasn't going to abandon Fawkes. The same was true of Aagog, although we had a chance to think about that, before Aagog went through the portal.

Odin sensed that I was unhappy and gave me a look which forced me to reply "I'm worried about Fawkes, after what you just said. I feel guilty I didn't think of her sooner."

"Nonsense! You worry too much. A Phoenix is a far more intelligent and magically powerful bird than my ravens. If the ravens can return, I guarantee you Fawkes can return. Let's eat our dinner. That will make you feel much better."

Was I that transparent and that easily diverted? Obviously, I was. Dinner did calm me and cheer my mood. Odin's assurance did convince me that I was needlessly worried about Fawkes. After dinner, we moved closer and closer to the actual portal, until we could contact Yggdrasil. The Yggdrasil we reached was ancient Yggdrasil, the Yggdrasil of just several centuries after the time of the Great Fire. It explained a few things a lot better than Odin had.

**It is like when you travelled on the God ribbon to my past. The portal doesn't just dump you into the Village Vana. It puts you on a normal God-ribbon which moves you through time. You exit that ribbon to what you call a travel ribbon. That takes you to a specific time at Village Vana - the portal determines the general place. You can only change your location a little on the local ribbon. Most local ribbons do not join the God-ribbon. Aagog can re-enter the portal. I will instruct her.**

While Aagog, and Hermione, finished listening to the instructions - Odin was telling me that he had more to explain and that totally disrupted my concentration - I encouraged the others to move back from the portal. Harry didn't want us to be discovered in this location and neither did I.

Odin commanded everyone's attention: "This is important! I should have told you more about this ribbon, before we travelled. The four main worlds of the Covenant are located close together on this ribbon. After we leave Vanaheimer, Venera will be next. Venera is a heavy world so you won't feel as light near it as you do now. After Venera comes your home world. You will feel lighter there than at Venera. Beyond your world are many others. Every world with a Black Stone has at least one in-and-out portal from this ribbon. Travelling the ribbon to them is much harder and stranger than reaching the four main worlds. The next world after Terra is the one which you call 'Unicorn World'. Since that is the world which currently hosts the dark Gods, I fear that we must travel there and observe the Gods' activities. It will be a strange feeling walk of several days to reach that world. I don't know, but I suspect that the dark Gods may be able to detect our presence on the ribbon in the vicinity of their portal. As far as I know, there is just the single portal to that world. You must choose wisely those who will accompany us to Dark God World.

"Walking the ribbon is safe, I don't think one can fall from the ribbon, but your bodies will be lighter than anything you have encountered so far and everything about that long stretch of ribbon will play with your mind. It is easy to go mad. Only calm, stable persons who are highly adept at magic and can strongly focus their minds are likely to survive the trip with their minds intact. The birds do very well on the journey. I also fear we may be in danger from the dark Gods. If we encounter them, we must turn first to diplomacy. If diplomacy fails... Well, our last recourse will be my own great magic and your triple-bang curse. That is why at least three of Ginny, Hermione, Cho, and Barb must go on to Dark God World. I fear that there is nothing but that curse which will give you any chance of winning a fight with one of the Dark Gods. You've been to Dark God World to visit the Unicorns, so perhaps you've already noticed: The Black Stone on that world is most like the Stone on your world. That is because they were created at the same time, much later than the Stones on the other Covenant worlds. There was a magical circle on Dark God World. I tended it myself. It was tuned to a mix of Unicorn and my own preferences. If the Dark Gods didn't mess with it, it should be well suited to your magical needs. If they've changed it drastically, I think I know how to kill that circle. I've added a few tricks of my own over the millennia."

We ate again. Such is how we passed the time until the next night began beneath us and the birds could return. They didn't bring much good intelligence. We did get a birds-eye view of the temple which housed their circle. We did see a high volume of ordinary Vanir as well as the Village Keepers flowing in and out of the temple, through the same sort of Odin-metal door, which protected Vanaheimer's pyramid. Odin identified the Keepers to us. It's the green and gold tunics. "Only the Keepers may wear that particular combination of colors. They are the high priests of this community. Unlike the Keepers of the Great Black Stone, these Keepers are all male. The birds had not been able to enter the pyramid."

If we wanted greater knowledge, Aagog would have to sneak in while a party of Vanir entered. At least we now could memorise our route from the portal to pyramid entrance.

Was it safe for Aagog to attempt this mission? Apart from my lingering doubt that she might find it difficult to re-enter the portal, I was concerned that her increased size would make it harder for her to sneak into the temple undetected.

"I packed a new invisibility cloak for Aagog," Hermione came to the rescue. "She had outgrown the old one."

The rest of the birds and Aagog headed to Village Vanir, as soon as Aagog was dressed in her cloak. The bottom half of her legs showed, but that might not be a problem. Hermione then pulled four pairs of spider invisibility stockings from her bag. It took an hour to get them onto Aagog's legs. As the team departed, I felt a pang of guilty that it wasn't me, under my own invisibility cape, who was leading the scouting party. Wasn't that the responsibility of the Quest leader?

The second wait was harder than the first. We had nothing of importance left to discuss. Depending upon our dispositions, we read, chit chatted, or unpacked memories from the Light Guardian or the Black Stones. I unpacked memories as I lay upon a blanket on the ribbon. As I half dozed, after examining the memories of another ancient priestess, I decided that I might find it easier to ride my broom along the ribbon, rather than walking. I mentioned this to Odin. He cautioned that our survival might depend upon hoarding our stored magical energy. Even at this distance, we could slowly recharge through our contact with the circle in the pyramid of The Great Black Stone. Much farther away, and we would spend ten hours farther away in our travel to Venera, there would be no re-charging. Walking did not expend magical energy the way traveling by broom did. I reconciled myself to another unnerving walk. As promised, I contacted both Harry and Percy, letting them both know the little we had learned from our first flight of birds and describing the walk to Vanaheimer. I wanted to know what was happening to them, but I was once again dealing with the God-ribbon time mismatch and could only leave a message with Yggdrasil for future delivery.

Aagog was very excited, whe she and the ravens rejoined us. Aagog was able to make it inside the temple. The big news was that the circle controlled by the Village Keepers had somehow managed to acquire a purple diamond. It had charging circles. The temple had so much traffic, because a constant stream of Vanir cycled through four charging ovals. There wasn't a Black Stone inside the temple, but there was a White Column. Was that supposed to even be possible - four White Columns on the same world? My intuition told me that somehow this White Column allowed entry to seid-space. Village Vana was a place of power.

I wanted to get all our forces well away from the Vanaheimer portals. We could garrison the ribbon far closer to Earth and still fully protect against Vanir spies and invaders. Before we all moved out, I paused to alert Harry and Percy to this rather disturbing new information from Aagog. On the plus side, Aagog was able to explore most of the temple and relayed over three-quarters of the floor plan to us. There was a lower level, accessed only by the Keepers, which Aagog could not enter.


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43 – Venera**

The walk from Vanaheimer to Vanera took longer but was less mentally arduous than the walk to Vanaheimer had been. We knew to use the shuffling steps from the beginning; we knew what to anticipate; we weren't quite so light for the final quarter of our journey. Venera had only two portals, both on-and-off variety.

We set up camp on the far side of the second portal. This was the side closest to Earth and it seemed more legitimate that we should be on this side. I knew that Harry didn't want us to enter Venera. I was surprised to find that Odin felt the same level of caution. "The other worlds have had little contact with Venera in recent years. Partly it's more than a little unpleasant to visit: hot, humid, heavy, and with fetid smells everywhere. Partly, the Venerans discourage visitors and have rarely visited any of the other Covenant worlds. That's an arrangement which has worked well for all of us. The Venerans don't look like the rest of us. When Asgard had more scientists than it does today, there were heated arguments whether the Venerans derived from the same original human stock as the other Covenant worlds. Many thought that their unusual appearance was an adaptation, over the course of many millennia, to their unpleasant world. I've been around for quite a few millennia and have noticed little change in them. It would be best to limit our explorations to what our birds can tell us. Too disruptive and even dangerous for the rest of us to venture onto that world."

If it was that potentially dangerous to encounter the Venerans, with as provocatively large…, well what else would it look like other than a small army, that we had assembled,

then I didn't intend to stay here any longer than necessary. I dispatched one flight of ravens by each of the portals. I kept Fawkes in reserve. I readily admitted to Hermione that part of the incentive to explore both portals at once was that it limited the amount of boredom just lying around waiting for the birds to return. Hermione seemed to think this a minor weakness on my part. "My preference would have been to use what we learned from the first flight of ravens to better plan the second flight, but you're in charge."

Perhaps she was just annoyed that I had made that decision without asking my Muse for her view. That probably was a dumb thing to do. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Hermione already knew a lot more about Venera than I did. When I laid around or chit chatted at times like this, she tended to engage in serious discussion with Odin and, before that with Frijjo and Vili. She talked to Miomor even more than Dad and Prudence had. That reminded me to find out from Harry what Prudence was up to, now that the Wales school was closed, and others had decided she wasn't the optimal candidate to be Steven Lester's tutor. I laid back on the ribbon and messaged Harry. We were still out of time from Harry. All I could do was leave an encouraging message that the travel hadn't been too bad and that we were safely camped at Venera's door. I also asked my question.

Hermione came over and sat beside me. "Don't blame me. I thought it prudent to save some interesting things to discuss, when you found yourself in a bored, blue, funk like this. There aren't a lot of bits of joy on a trip like this. Even Cissy pronounced it 'not exactly a fun adventure'. Anyway, I've been saving the report from my professor uncles. The time device I brought back from the very old circle in the Cavern of the Goblins showed an age of 10,500 years, give or take five hundred years. Carbon-14 dating showed the scrolls to be 50 years old, give or take ten years. Isn't that remarkable? King Gobbledygook certainly thought it was. He is now hoping against hope that his family scrolls arrived in recent times through the same travel through time. I told him that I thought this unlikely. He is determined to travel back in time to search for them."

Oh! Did Hermione really think I was so unstable and given to moroseness that this sort of manipulation was required. I couldn't imagine what I might have done differently if given this information sooner, but still felt that she had somehow lessened this mission's odds for success by holding back this information.

As if reading my mind, she continued "You must admit that you can get moody. You also withhold information. I'm supposed to, as your Muse, impart facts and wisdom which you may not have at your fingertips and present you with alternative courses of action. You've been deciding without even talking to me."

"I know. I was just thinking that ten minutes ago. I am sorry. I think I got spooked when Odin was so frightened about any of us entering Venera. I didn't think there was anywhere Odin was afraid to go, although he did treat Hel very gingerly. I wanted to get in and out of here as fast as possible. I fear that I also acted to avoid two more whole days of waiting for the birds to return. I admit to feeling a bit funked. I guess I fear being shunted aside and losing the Quest entirely or being removed from it. Percy threw me off stride when he told Harry that we're too kill happy and his diplomacy is the approach Harry should support. I know Harry doesn't want us in as much danger as we've seen. Ron feels the same. I fear they are going to make us choose Questing or our marriages. Then I worry that I've become as much of an adventure junkie as Cissy."

"I think the lads have taken the Quest surprisingly well. I expected far more pushback, especially for this trip which could equally well have been performed by aurors, although I suppose Odin would not have been as helpful if we weren't here. Harry knows we need to learn a lot more. It will make all of us safer and strengthen our community. A clash of wills with Percy is inevitable. Your father jerked him around to give more power to Prudence. He wasn't in all that much less danger than we were on Vanaheimer, and I'm sure he worries about Callista. I think she's less of a fighter than I am. We wouldn't be here if Harry didn't support you as leader of this mission. I know it bothers you not to be leading the scout team. It's a lot harder to hide us than to hide the birds or Aagog. It's a far bigger incident if we get caught. Harry and Ron trust us. Part of that is trusting you to act as sensibly as you have. We should not be on Venera now."

"You're my friend as well as my Muse. Please tell me, have I become power mad? Am I the worst adventure junkie ever? Do I really try to over-compete with my husband and brother and take over what are properly their roles."?

"No, I've never thought that. You are an active person. Like Harry, you can't bear to delegate risks to others. You feel oppressed by the burden of responsibility for the lives of those who chose to Quest with you, which causes you to always want to be in the most exposed lead position. Hogwarts forced you to become a fighter rather than a student. It was worse your sixth year than any year Harry, Ron, and I were there. It's left a psychic wound that is hard to heal. Questing has made healing even tougher. I took hope from how much you, even more than me, rebelled at the whole idea of Questing, of having to name someone as the first to die position. That is still who we are. We seek knowledge, not power. We willingly suffer to help other innocents who need our help. We have always tried our best to do good. All our rebellions were revolts against being forced to do bad. I know you are trying to be a good Light Guardian priestess. Percy was very wrong to characterize us as killers. That was Frijjo, not us."

"Thank you, that makes me feel a little better. I should talk to you more. I should seek your advice as I did before. I've been forcing myself to think more and not lean on you for so much. It seemed the necessary thing to do. Yggdrasil and Odin have told me I must do that. That I use you as a crutch and that this stunts my development. I have been trying to figure out something very difficult. I am bothered by the purple diamonds. I've searched my Light Guardian knowledge and talked to Yggdrasil. You understand some physics. I don't. Yggdrasil tried to explain some possibilities to me, but it didn't make a lot of sense to me. It seems to me that going back in time doubled the number of purple diamonds. We still had the necklace with the smallest of the Vanir purple diamonds, then ancient Yggdrasil gave you all four diamonds, including that one. I put my hand into my pocket to check. I still had the necklace. I felt the diamond with my finger. How is that even possible?"

"I don't think it is. That has also worried me. Do you still have the necklace?"

I pulled it out of my pocket and showed it to her. She pulled the two natural purple diamonds from her pocket.

"What if they never were natural?" I blurted. "You've made a lot of almost perfect copies. What if very long ago, somebody or something had that skill?"

The birds finally returned. Their condition was awful, and it appeared as though they barely made it back. Cissy reported that her bird had not returned. Flying on this world must be very difficult. We hastened to view the birds' memories, hoping to learn what had gone wrong.

They had found a pyramid near the portal we were camped next to and what looked like a huge, squat temple or government building next to the other portal. Both had a daytime stream of people, people who vaguely resembled our kind, streaming in and out of them. It was clear that two of them had spotted one of the birds, when it tried to sneak closer to get a better look at them. Unlike what the birds had reported from any other world, I didn't see a single native bird. Our birds had covered a wide area. They had flown over what looked like fields of ripe grain. Surely, they should have spotted a native bird. Perhaps there were none.

"We've got to get out of here, before somebody comes looking for us," I told the others.

Hermione and Odin did not disagree. We packed very quickly, while also policing our camp to make sure we left nothing behind. I felt relieved when we rounded a curve in the ribbon, which took us out of sight from either of the Venera portals. After that, we slowed our pace. I didn't even realize how fast we had been forcing ourselves to shuffle along, but we were moving a third slower than before. Not exactly fear, but the strong desire to avoid a needless battle, can do that. Nine hours of shuffle-marching brought us to the first of Earth's portals. It was an out-only port. As we began to sidle close enough to the portal to figure out where and when it might disgorge us, Barb grabbed my arm, telling me it was urgent that we speak.

"If the Vanir or the Vanerans choose to come to Earth, it is important that our defences be as strong as possible. This group may not be strong enough. What we need is a lookout an hour back along the path toward Venera. It must be someone who can raise an alert through our Black Stone or Yggdrasil. I just successfully talked to both. We are standing only about a year in our past, by the way. I propose that we start with two lookouts alternating twelve-hour shifts. I'm an auror. I know that I can handle that schedule and its level of boredom."

I conferred with Hermione and Cho. We all thought Barb's plan could make sense, provided we could get into Earth's present, so Harry could have a squad ready to reinforce those of us guarding the ribbon. Some wand arrays would be a plus. Possibly a small bomb or two. When I told Barb all of this and asked if she could recruit the second auror to alternate watches with her, she had a ready response.

"Of course, I can. Prissy will do it. She is honourable, loyal, and I outrank her. On the other point, I asked Yggdrasil to message Harry. He already knows of the need for a rapid response squad with wand arrays. He or Ron or the Director may think of the bombs on their own. I agree with you that we need to find an on-off portal into current Earth time. May I suggest that some of you investigate this portal, while others move on to other portals. An off-only portal like this one doesn't meet our needs, even though we do need to know where it could dump out invaders."

A quick group meeting met with nearly universal agreement. Cissy led a group of four to investigate the portal we were standing at, Barb began to walk to her sentry post, while the rest of us moved forward. Since her team wouldn't be able to exit and re-enter this portal, Hermione gave Cissy a camera to capture as much information for future identification as possible.

The rest of us had a few minutes' walk to the next portal, which was of the in-and-out variety. As we moved closer to the portal, it quickly became clear that we were overlooking Jerusalem. I recognised the scene from our visit to ICW headquarters. Yael confirmed my identification.

"Yes, of course it's Jerusalem. That must be why the ICW is here. I can tell from little changes that we are within five years of the present we left. I suspect you want to try leaving the ribbon here and seeing whether you can get back onto the ribbon-between-worlds from here, especially since you'll be making more frequent visits to the ICW. We don't want to leave the ribbon here - way too many people and security cameras on the Temple Mount, not to mention soldiers. You mentioned travel by local ribbon. Can we go somewhere less conspicuous."?

I thought we could. Never having done that before, I couldn't be certain. We moved closer to the portal, searching all around us for a local travel ribbon. None of us saw one. As we moved almost right up to the portal, Hermione called out: "I think I see another ribbon beyond the portal. It looks like we can just climb through the portal."

Yes, it did. And, yes, we could. We turned right as soon as we stepped onto the ribbon, since this seemed to lead away from the heart of the city. After a short while, Yael shouted "here, this looks like a nice deserted spot."

I looked all around us. It seemed deserted and this was about as dark as streets got around here. We hopped off the ribbon. Yael moved us into the shadows and around the next corner. I followed her as soon as I had fixed our departure point from the ribbon clearly in my mind. I had no sooner turned the corner that I ran almost smack into two soldiers, who demanded to see my passport.

"She's with me," Yael boldly declared. "She has a passport, but her identity is a state secret."

The soldiers looked worried. Yael handed them a card. They dialed their cellphones. After a short discussion out of our hearing, the soldier with the cellphone returned and told us that we could be on our way. We turned to walk back to the ribbon, but the soldiers were following us. We stopped to let them catch up. As Yael asked "well?" I performed a silent "Off!". Yael searched pockets, quickly finding a printed sheet of paper, which must have been what she sought. "Their daily update. I think we are within a day of the proper time"

Hermione and I Obliviated and Confunded them and we were ready to be on our way. "You can't leave them here like this. They're defenceless," Yael objected.

"If I reverse the 'Off!', won't we be right back where we started, with these two demanding our passports?"

"Can you reverse the 'Off' from a distance?"

I thought I could do that magic from three hundred feet away. I didn't know how much farther was possible. I did know that we needed to prop them up against a wall if I was to have any chance of hitting them from that range. We did that moving them up against a building, then crossing the street and walking perhaps five hundred feet to the next corner. When we reached the corner, I pointed my wand back at them and used a spell assisted by Little Ba'al's circle. We wasted no time fast walking back to the point where we had left the travel ribbon.

I told Yael that I wasn't certain that we could side-Apparate her onto the travel ribbon or from that ribbon to the God ribbon. Odin had anticipated that we would be unable to do this with a nonmagical British soldier, but I thought that even though we hadn't yet taught her to Apparate, that she was magical, so it would probably work. If not, she could travel to ICW headquarters or her office. We would fetch her when we returned.

We side-Apparated Yael onto the ribbon, then all three of us linked arms and Hermione Apparated us back through the portal and back onto the God ribbon-between-Worlds. Cissy was waiting for us. That was the first half of an important experiment, successfully completed. I excitedly told Odin what we had done. He just said "stupid!" and walked away. He turned to face us again and told me "it's a good thing you are so lucky."

Cissy excitedly approached us. "We didn't leave the ribbon. The portal is above a narrow, flat plain with mountains all around. I took pictures of the mountains, as well as the plain. I think Hermione's professors should be able to identify the location by computer. I saw a smaller, probably local, ribbon right beyond the portal. I could have reached through and touched it but was afraid I couldn't get my arm back.

"Dangerous thought, correct decision," Hermione sort-of praised her judgment. As we continued our explorations, we discovered that Earth also had in-and-out portals at what Hermione assured us was Mount Olympus in Greece and at Hogwarts. There was a final out-only portal located at what Hermione described as "the sacred Hawaiian mountain with the telescopes, I don't remember the name.' That gave Earth more portals than any other world.

We set up our garrison just on the Venera side of the first Earth portal, the in-only portal on the plain surrounded by mountains. Hermione, Cho, Cissy, and I had to return to the Hogwarts pyramid to meet with Harry and his government, before we traveled on to Unicorn World turned into Dark God World. We requested that Odin not come with us and he agreed. This was partially for confidentiality if government secrets needed to be discussed and partly because we wanted to tell our story ourselves, without corrections from Odin.

Odin drew Hermione and me aside for a brief chat, before we departed. I'm sorry, if I seemed abrupt before, but there were dangers you didn't realize and should have asked about, after I warned you of the dangers of side-Apparation. I know you considered that Yael would be fine in her own capital city if you couldn't get her back onto the God ribbon. It was wise to test that on your own world. What you didn't know is that the results can be grotesquely worse than just leaving her behind. You and Hermione are both very powerful Witches and I'm sure you tied into a circle or your Black Stone to give yourselves maximum magical strength and odds of success, but... Yael is magical, but not strongly magical and with very little magical training. You and Hermione could have arrived on the God ribbon with a Yael arm for each of you and poor Yael standing back on the local ribbon wondering what happened to the rest of her.."

Oh!


	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter 44 – Homecoming**

Harry, Ron and Viktor were waiting for us when we arrived in the pyramid. After hugs with friends, and snogs with husbands, they stepped aside, allowing us to give a medium-length update of our adventures, along with a pep talk, to those who guarded the pyramid. We were then whisked off to our house for a more detailed meeting. I thought it significant that Harry didn't take us to the Ministry. It also was significant that neither Director Shacklebolt nor Deputy Minister McGonagall was included.

"Your messages, especially the last one, really worried me. That's why I wanted to talk just among ourselves. The ribbon-between-worlds is a huge threat to us. It's worse than when Vili and various Vanir invaded us through the Black Stones. Five exits from the ribbon are a lot to defend. Even worse, you say one simply pops through the portal onto a local ribbon and has the choice of disembarking across many miles. A lot of those portals and areas crossed by the local ribbons are in areas we don't control and can't defend. The non-magical governments will have to defend against attack from those routes.

"We will have to defend against attack on the ribbon itself. The ribbon seems to be a free travel zone, as you've used it to travel past multiple worlds. If we don't permit passage, that will likely be taken as a very hostile action.

"Barb is an exceptional auror. She can make a go of being a lone sentinel miles from your garrison on the ribbon. I don't think the majority of aurors could handle it for very long. You will need a sentinel on either side of the extreme Earth portals. That's four aurors. I don't like that. I spoke to Hermione's father and to Ellie. They are developing ideas for a machine which can serve that function. I think that is far safer. That's what I wanted to say to set the stage for this meeting.

"Oh, one more thing. I've talked to Tony and we've discussed the possibility of recruiting the nonmagical governments to take the lead in defending their territories from attack. Tony agrees it makes sense to recruit Israel, so you need to work with Yael and her boss to start building the Jerusalem circle. Tony thought the Greeks might be willing to help and keep the secret, if Britain supported them. The first out-only portal appears to be in Tibet, which is controlled by China. Tony says they are not to be trusted at all and it would be very dangerous to let them in on the secrets. The friends across the pond are the best prepared to defend their portal, but we've just gone to great effort to keep them from finding out about us. Eventually we must go back to the ICW, but first I need to meet with the Bad Dude."

"And just the six of us are meeting, because you want us all to agree on a proposal, before you present the plan and justification to the rest of the government," Hermione asked Harry.

"Yes, but more than that. I want to check with the Bad Dude, and Danny Yakom, and wait for Percy to determine whether a new Vanir transition government can be peacefully organised. I also want all of us to get together with Tony and our Greek friends. The Ministry leaks like a bottomless bucket. It always has and I'm not convinced that the auror we caught was the only leak. That and the urgency of the situation say we have to move very quickly."

"Durmstrang has a White Column. I'm surprised there wasn't a portal at our school."

"The God-ribbon-between-worlds and the Black Stones/White Columns seem to be two entirely separate means of travel. The God ribbons were even unknown in seid-space until Frijjo or her 'mother',Gna, discovered an entrance from seid-space. Hermione and Cho will back me up on this: we have no idea how extensive the local ribbons which the portals empty onto are. For all we know, the ribbon outside the Mount Olympus portal extends all the way to Durmstrang. We didn't have time to explore. As usual, we are having to do too much all at the same time."

"Ginny's right."

Ron and Harry had prepared a lamb stew, which they now dispensed into big bowls in front of each of us. "It's early summer break at Hogwarts. This is either very young mutton or old lamb," Ron apologised.

He needn't have been apologetic. It was very well spiced, super tender, and delicious. The lads had also bake fresh bread. I was enjoying my lunch when a Stone message blared in my head.

**This is Cissy. Odin was investigating the ribbon beyond Earth with Pegasus, Catta, Aagog, and me. He was leading the way and stumbled onto some sort of fortress built right onto the ribbon. It struck him down, when he was still half a mile away. We 'Accio' him away from the fortress. He's in bad shape. We are going to Apparate him to the Hogwarts pyramid. He's not dead, but he's also not conscious. I'm shaking. I was only ten feet behind Odin. I should be dead!**

I repeated the message. Hermione and Cho had also heard it. We abandoned the rest of our meal and Apparated to the pyramid. We beat Odin there by a couple of minutes. He looked awful. We moved him right into a charging oval and then tried to figure out what was wrong with him. His heart was still beating. His body did not bear any of the burn marks of the innocent who had been murdered in front of Ve's fortress. Hermione and I both thought we could sense his aura. We also thought we could use some help. An auror was dispatched to fetch Doctor Wright. I heard Harry telling another auror to please bring back McGonagall and Shacklebolt. I told Harry "no need, I can contact both of them by Stone and they can Apparate directly here."

McGonagall and Shacklebolt arrived first and Cissy and I gave them a quick summary of what we observed. I asked Cissy to go first, because she had first-hand knowledge of the encounter with the fortress. I listened very carefully to her description, trying to determine whether one of the identifier stones Odin normally carried was responsible for the attack. This was just far too like the incident at Ve's fortress. That incident had revealed that Frijjo had a vastly greater knowledge of Odin's stones than either of us had thought. The big question raced across my mind; I must have spoken it aloud: "How old is Ve's fortress; how long has Odin been using his identification stones; how long had Frijjo been running almost everything?"

"Excellent questions," Harry declared. "Let's hope Odin lives to tell us the answers. I also instantly thought of Ve's fortress. I had a more harrowing thought: what if Frijjo still lives, perhaps in the less-than-a-body-form which was all that Voldemort could manage for a decade?"

I hadn't noticed the arrival of Dr. Wright, but he was now standing next to Harry and reporting Odin's condition: "His aura is reasonably strong. I can't find anything wrong with his body. It's his mind. This is new territory for all of us. I can only hope that he will continue to improve until he eventually can speak to you. Your healing chamber is stronger than the one you gave us at St. Mungo's, so I believe it best to leave Odin exactly where he lies. I gave him some of this potion, which should help to speed his recovery. I expect him to live. I won't promise that his mind will be unaffected. I didn't realise just how much stronger your healing chamber is. I request permission to use it for our more serious patients. Even the chamber that you added at St. Mungo's has been a big help. I'd like to assign an assistant to work here."

"That will require a strict security screening," Shacklebolt cautioned; "but it certainly should be doable," I suggested. Harry agreed. He also reminded Shacklebolt "we've already screened a number of doctors and assistants to tend to sensitive cases, like the former Lord."

It was agreed that Doctor Wright would return with an assistant and another very weak patient whom he wanted to place in one of the stronger pyramid ovals. He asked how the strength of the St. Mungo's healing ovals could be increased. I answered honestly that we could try to better tune them to the London circles, but that short of building a new circle at St. Mungo's or the Ministry, I didn't think we could make much of an improvement. Harry and I both promised to think about it. Perhaps a branch infirmary in the Hogwarts pyramid, or at Hogwarts itself, was the quickest solution. Doctor Wright looked around the pyramid, sniffed the air, and scowled.

"Too dark, too gloomy, the air is stale. This just isn't a good site for healing. I also don't want to risk infecting the Hogwarts students with any spreadable disease. If you could construct a small, light, airy, warm building on the Hogwarts grounds, that would be ideal. I realise that won't be cheap. I also realise how many popularity points your government will win by improving healthcare and allowing Witches and Wizards to live longer. Does an extra decade of life make up for losing one's Elf? If a person is at all rational, I think that must be an improvement. Well, my patient is very ill, she'll have to deal with this gloom until she regains her strength."

He was gone and I was left feeling very guilty about the working conditions of my pyramid guards, really their living and working conditions. With Harry's approval, and making sure they were tied into Stone alerts, I sent half of the pyramid crew home for a week. At least several of us needed to stay here with Odin, so the defence wouldn't be terribly depleted. We were our best triple-curse team. We would decide if more defenders were needed when Harry, Ron, McGonagall, Shacklebolt, and their aurors left.

Hermione decided to empty Odin's pockets. He carried a variety of whistles, a single stone, two brass keys, and the two purple diamonds we had found hidden in Ve's fortress. Hermione spent close to an hour closely studying the stone and the keys, finally declaring: "this definitely is the stone, which is supposed to permit safe entry into Ve's fortress. The keys have no more intense charms than a Hogwarts staff key. It will take me a little longer to examine the diamonds. It's possible the fortress homed in upon them. Would it be terrible if I ran off to consult one of the professor uncles?"

I continued to give an excruciatingly detailed description of our travels on the ribbon. Cissy filled in a few details that I missed. "I am increasingly concerned about the Vanir," Harry interrupted when we reached the point in our story where Aagog discovered a purple-diamond circle in the Village Vana. "First we discover Miomor has a secret and powerful almost modern circle in Government House. Now there is a secret purple diamond circle in Village Vana. It seems all the Vanir are duplicitous. And now Odin is almost killed by what is surely Frijjo's trap. Percy needs to know about the purple diamond circle. I see little benefit from continuing to try to help the Vanir."

I was indignant and let my husband know as much. "As I promised before we left on this leg of the Quest, I kept both you and Percy fully updated on what we found. Percy doesn't need to know. Percy already does know. Let's hope he made appropriate use of the information - it was not easily or painlessly acquired!"

Harry was extremely apologetic. Of course, he remembered my promise. Of course, he had received my updates. This current report provided a lot more color, but he was already aware of all the key points. Of course, he assumed that I had kept my pledge to send the same updates to Percy. He had simply misspoken. The attack on Odin had spooked all of us. We needn't be so quick to take offense.

Harry decided that the best way to lower the tension was to tell us what was going on here on Earth, so that I and my team did not feel so put upon the spot. I had expressed an interest in Prudence. She was normally teaching at the new Diagon Alley school but was spending the summer session at Hogwarts. Dad had stayed away from her, as promised, but Harry checked in on her periodically. She was reasonably happy. Harry couldn't vouch for more than that.

"She is perfectly fine!" McGonagall emphatically declared. "She doesn't wish to be fussed over."

Harry recaptured the conversation. "The former Lord sent another missive via his favorite auror. The auror in question played it straight. We got a look at the message, carefully resealed it, including the former Lord's little tell-tale, and posted it to the intended recipient, who is a major recipient of largesse from The New Start Society. We have that individual under very close, yet very discrete surveillance. Tony is finding out all that he can about her. She hasn't popped up as a concern with British law enforcement or the intelligence services. She is studying to be a pharmacist and will graduate in the Fall." Harry pulled a folded page of paper from his pocket. "Here's what the note says: "The Society has helped you a lot. We would appreciate a minor favor in return. There is a package in a safety deposit box at the Santander Bank in Cambridge. The box is in the name of Mallory Marshall. You will find the key for the box on the table inside the door of a house a block north of the bank. The door has a numeral lock. The code is 4-7-3-6-6. When you get the package, you are to deliver it to Roger Smythe, Esq. in Sheffield and to tell him that the delivery is on behalf of Mortimer Smedley. Thank you for your service and good luck on your final term."

"Mrs. Toms had the solicitor and every other person or location mentioned in the note covered. She had a tiny tracker device added to the envelope. I had two strategically placed Elves in invisibility mode, one following the postman and one at the solicitor's office. The former Lord defeated all of us. The postman delivered the message to a predetermined address he had agreed, for a lot of pounds, while Bruce was on trial. Clearly an elaborate revenge plot by the former Lord. The Elf spotted the delivery of the note to a small house, as did Mrs. Tom's man. By the time they entered the house, the occupant had slipped out the rear and vanished. The note was gone.

"The former Lord was gloating about his triumph, telling one of the good aurors 'I'm certain I've achieved my revenge over all of you. None of you would do a thing to save my poor sick son'. He wasn't gloating as much when we turned him over to Mrs. Toms. At first, he declared 'you can't touch me, I'm a British Lord.' You should have been there to watch his face fall when she told him 'You're no longer a Lord. Your official status is Deceased. That gives me a large degree of freedom in dealing with you. I'm very confident you'll tell me everything I need to know. You are charged with treason and terrorism. I have multiple witnesses that you threatened a devastating explosion in our community. It is my job to make certain that doesn't happen.' The postman is also in prison, admitted everything, but knows next to nothing. We'll know more within the week.

"Other news: the Lesters are enjoying being together at their estate, Margaret and the twins are exploring in Greater Britain together - with a pair of aurors of course, and your father, really both your parents, expressed their desperation to meet with you - actually with us, and Ron and Hermione."

That last bit of news led to as long and heated a conversation as you might expect. I wasn't yet ready to meet with my father. Everything was still so raw: being forced to testify before the Wizengamot, being accused of throwing Prudence to the trolls, Percy accusing Hermione and me of being cold killers, I think largely because he was angry with Dad selling him a false role to benefit Prudence and with Dad's flash resignation dropping Harry into the mess of all of Dad's Ministry problems. Apparently, my parents greatly wished us all to come to the Burrow for dinner, so they could be on their own turf. I didn't feel up to cooking and Hermione was still off with the uncles, so that left a restaurant or not meeting, or meeting at a neutral spot not for a meal. I told Harry that I would accept one of those last three options, although I thought it was far too quick for a reconciliation meeting - almost no time had passed and my team had faced great danger during that little bit of time. This wasn't a decision I could make without Ron and Hermione. How could Harry and I agree to a contentious family dinner, which included them, leaving Ron responsible for any rejection of the invitation.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just go to the Burrow and not have to worry about food preparation or interference from outsiders?" Harry almost pleaded Dad's case.

"Have you forgotten how well the last dinner at the Burrow didn't go? A problem with that setting is that it puts my parents too much in charge and puts the rest of us in the position of children. That's why it can't work. I can tell from your tone that it will also plunge you back into the role of subservient Deputy Minister, trying to be a good son-in-law and never being allowed to succeed in either role. No! I'm an adult. I'm the Mother of the Future. You're the Minister. Dad walked away and threw all that onto you. I also realise that we all must meet with Hermione's committee. We can't agree to things with Dad which could take away our freedom of action at that meeting. I'm going to Stone-message Hermione. I won't decide to a meeting at the Burrow on my own."

As I left the message for Hermione, Ron returned. I asked if he knew of the invitation for dinner at the Burrow and whether he was in favour of that.

"I dunno. It's worse for you and Harry than for me. I can stand it. Mum is a good cook and you know she'll outdo herself for this meal. Have to talk to Hermione."

Rather than a return Stone message, I received a returned Hermione, and I only had to wait five minutes from my message. "It's a meeting we have to have sometime and delaying it will likely only make it worse. I think we should all be prepared for awkward. I promise to rescue you if things become awful."

Okay, I could do it. My husband seemed very relieved. I don't think he wanted me to return to a dangerous Quest with the family breach unresolved.

I Stone-messaged Mum that we would be at the Burrow at seven. She instantly messaged back her thanks, promising me that Dad had come to his senses and was truly apologetic. She also promised to protect me if Dad got too pushy in his quest for absolution. As I broke away from the Stone, it was clear that Hermione had been excitedly awaiting her chance to share what she had learned from the professors.

The purple diamonds are different. I'm sorry I didn't borrow the necklace from you to check the small diamonds, but the two pairs of larger purple diamonds are different. The two diamonds in each of the pairs are identical to the extent that my uncles couldn't find a difference. The basic structure of all four of the purple diamonds, that is the atoms that make the diamonds purple are the same, but... here is the big news and the uncles missed this on the last analysis: all of the purple diamonds have a very thin internal pattern made up of silver atoms. The first pair, what we thought were the only purple diamonds or Odin's diamonds, had the pattern of a six-pointed star. The copies I made don't have the star, which apparently is why they don't quite work in some applications and why the necklace pendant doesn't turn off our circles. The diamonds provided by ancient Yggdrasil have a five-pointed star pattern. Isn't that both interesting and incredibly odd? I must have the small diamond examined before we leave. Of course, I must make some more copies. Proper copies this time. Now that I know about the silver pattern, and Uncle Reg drew it out for me in precise detail, I can include it in my copies. I'll make diamonds with both types of star."

The four of us Apparated to the Burrow together. It was a surprisingly relaxed evening, in no small part to Mum's supplying a surprisingly un-Mum-quantity of both Witch sherry and port. Dad quite calmly announced that he had severed all communication with Prudence, that he and Mum were in a good place again, and that he felt a deep desire to end his pariah status with his children. "I am as sorry as I could possibly be. I know that you and Percy have been sniping at each other over your roles in helping the Vanir. I know that I caused this by setting up conflicting responsibilities during your joint trip to Vanaheimer and that I took that duplicitous approach to help Prudence. I didn't realise at the time that I was harming my own children to help Prudence, but I know that now. I also understand how unfair it was to force you to testify before the Wizengamot to solve problems largely created by Prudence and I. I was looking for, perhaps even expecting, you to work a miracle. I was disappointed when a miracle didn't appear, but it was very unfair to blame you for failing to fix that which you couldn't possibly be expected to fix. Everyone I've spoken to said that you did extremely well and that your appearance harmed the opposition. I was just way too emotional to be able to be satisfied with that. I just felt so much guilt toward Prudence and thought I had ruined her life. I measured the success of your testimony by whether it had redeemed Prudence's career as a diplomat. I also sensed myself failing as Minister. I was becoming far too rigid. I was unhappy. For some reason I convinced myself that I was protecting your mother and you by pushing you away. I instructed Harry not to share anything about the Ministry with you. I wanted you safely walled off from all of that."

"How could I be safely walled off while leading a dangerous Quest? And, of course I realised that you expected me to redeem Prudence's career. That's the big reason I didn't want to testify. I knew that what you wanted was impossible. I warned you that I would have to give honest answers. You forced me to testify, knowing in advance exactly what I thought of Prudence as ambassador."

"I know. Even now my thinking at that time makes no sense to me. I was feeling more and more worried and frustrated. Whenever I thought I was finally making good progress, another big problem showed up. I was too fixed on budget. Harry spent his own money to do what must be done, what I should have been brave enough to have the Ministry do. I became Minister to help the people who suffered under previous administrations, not to keep the opposition somewhat happy. I could have been bolder. Harry and Hermione pushed for bold. So did Professor McGonagall and even Shacklebolt, whom everyone assumes want minimal change. Again, I am sorry."

The food was excellent. Mum totally outdid herself. I did forgive Dad. We did end the evening with a non-awkward hug. I think Mum wanted us to spend the night, but we wanted our own beds in our own homes.


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45 – Odin Awake**

I travelled with Hermione to pay another visit to her Uncle Reg. We had the pebble which Odin had carried – the one which permitted him entrance to Ve's fortress, but might have led, what was probably Frijjo's fortress, to attack him. We did not have his phoney stone. Since Frijjo had obviously known the secrets of his stones, I'm sure he saw no value in continuing to carry the phoney decoy. We also carried the genuine and phoney decoy stones, which Odin had entrusted to me, as well as the stones we had taken from the dead bodies of Frijjo and the poor woman incinerated by Ve's fortress.

The secret of these stones was very simple. Knowing what to look for, Professor Uncle Reg found it immediately. The good stones had 'Woden', written in an extremely fine script – just an atom-wide curving cursive line in silver. My decoy stone had an 'X' in the same fine script, as did the stone carried by the incinerated woman. Frijjo's stone said 'Frijjo' in coarser script than Odin used on his stones. This was missed in the initial analysis, because that analysis focused only upon the structure near the surface, while the silver pattern, as with the purple diamonds, was both hidden at the center and extremely fine. This led Uncle Reg to the obvious conclusion: neither the purple diamonds, nor the stones were natural. They were man-made artifacts of advanced technology.

This visit was a great success to my mind: I felt that we both understood the secrets of Odin's and Frijjo's stones and that we could reproduce acceptable copies. Hermione also seemed very satisfied. Our satisfaction ended when we ran into Professor Sturluson, who forcefully demanded a detailed review of all which had happened.

"As your expert, and of course also Tony's expert, on Odin, Frijjo, and Odin's brothers, I think I can add some depth to your visceral interpretation of events. Now… I understand that Frijjo is dead and that Odin lies near to death."

"True for Frijjo, overly dramatic as far as Odin is concerned," Hermione corrected him. "From all that we and our St. Mungo's healers can determine, Odin is recovering very nicely and will be able to speak to us soon. He is very strong. The attack by that fortress certainly would have killed a mere human."

After we walked him through what we had learned on the God-ribbon-between-worlds, including what we knew about Odin's almost fatal encounter with the fortress, the professor rudely interjected "you actually left Cissy in charge, while the three of you returned to Earth. What were you thinking? It's little wonder Odin was almost killed."

"No!" I answered him with an equal tone of amazement in my voice. "We left Odin and Captain Davies in charge. There were aurors present. Are you going to tell me you don't regard Odin as capable of being left in charge?"

"He is known for taking entirely too many risks. Surely you've noticed how impulsive he can be."

We returned to the pyramid to check on Odin. He was stirring, but not yet awake. We gave him some more of Doctor Wright's potion and rearranged his blanket, so that he stayed warm in his charging oval. Doctor Wright was correct about the dankness of the pyramid. I mentally assigned high priority to construction of a clinic on the Hogwarts grounds. I could locate it directly above the purple diamond circle. I had previously identified the corresponding spot on the grounds: a gently down-sloping section of lawn, halfway between the main entrance to the castle and Hagrid's hut, lay directly above the purple diamond. The new clinic would be saturated in magical energy and its healing ovals would be second to none.

It was easier to get this project started than I could have hoped. Harry saw the value. He immediately gave Ministry approval and promised to hire some underemployed Wizards, Goblins, and Elves to do the construction, just as soon as plans could be developed. Doctor Wright was thrilled - doubly thrilled when Cissy recruited Professor Celine and the two of them agreed to draw up his ideas. Neville said he would contribute some ideas, since he wanted the clinic to look like a part of the Hogwarts campus. I was glad that Cissy was working with Adrienne. She needed some peace and calm after the horrible fright she had received at the fortress on the ribbon. She was far too proud to pull back from Questing, just because she had sustained a huge fright. She was also far tougher than that and perfectly willing to risk danger to contribute to what she felt was a necessary and noble cause. She hated not to be part of the action and yet, she was still a somewhat fragile teenager. The solution to her problem was to be involved in something which was perfectly safe, but also very important and interesting. That it involved art and her favorite professor simply guaranteed that it would be enough fun to fully occupy and reboot her mind. Already her enthusiasm was returning.

While we waited for Odin to revive, Hermione and I Witch sculpted more purple diamonds, as well as Odin's and Frijjo's special stones. This is another activity which could have rebooted Cissy's mind, but I didn't want to involve her. It was dangerous. The diamonds were still extremely sought after and if people knew that she had the ability to crank them out, she would be at risk of kidnapping. Witch sculpting of purple diamonds was that great a state secret. We had kept their composition a secret and wouldn't say a word about the silver writing inside them.

We tested the diamonds. We didn't have a ready way to safely test the stones. The first part of the Witch sculpture process was to get a good visualisation of what Uncle Reg had learned about the stones and fix that image in our minds. Then, it was just a matter of keeping our magical energy strong and converting our piles of raw materials into diamonds and stones. When we felt our energy flagging, we rewarded ourselves with food, drink and a half hour in a charging oval. By the time Odin awoke sufficiently to speak to us, we had created impressive piles of diamonds and stones. Prior to this exercise, we only had a couple of our own smaller purple diamonds, and since they lacked the silver lattice, they wouldn't work as substitutes for the purple diamond in the Vanir royal pendant. Now we had a dozen purple replicas. We also had two perfect necklaces with pendants. So many original diamonds, plus perfect and imperfect copies was a challenge to Hermione's labelling and storage system, but she was able to explain herself well enough that I understood the system. It may sound silly to keep imperfect copies, but there was value in having a stealable fake pendant, which was unable to control a purple diamond circle which included a perfect copy of a purple diamond. If we didn't fake ourselves out, this could have tactical value.

Odin was very weak when he awoke, but plenty strong enough to talk. "It was Frijjo! The fortress must have been hers. I have no idea how she was able to build such a thing. I didn't think she had been able to spend much time exploring that ribbon. That fortress wasn't built in a day or in a month. Certainly, parts could have been built elsewhere and apparated into place, but it would still require many months of on-the-spot construction. It is too like Ve's fortress to be chance. She either learned from Ve or the two of them built both fortresses together. I was a fool to trust her. The fortress deliberately attacked me. Cissy certainly was also within its range. It could have taken her, had it chosen to do so, but it locked onto me. I carried my entry stone for the Ve fortress. We know that Frijjo knew the secret of that stone. I see I no longer have it in my pocket. Have you figured it out?"

"Yes, we finally have learned its secret," Hermione returned the stone to him. "The silver pattern was drawn in such thin lines that Uncle Reg missed it when he first examined the purple diamonds. Once he found it in the diamond, it was easy to find it in your stone. We've made proper copies. We've also copied Frijjo's stone. I am not bold enough to approach the fortress with that stone in my pocket, but I believe it will work. I agree the fortress is Frijjo's."

"For now, it does a good job of guarding the approach to Earth from the world of the dark Gods," I told Odin. My husband is in no hurry to see the fortress demolished. I have been considering how we might explore it. I wouldn't risk a thinking creature, but I'm willing to send a goat or a cow."

Odin agreed with Doctor Wright about the generally depressing atmosphere of our pyramid. He might be lying in the best healing oval which the Earth currently had to offer, but Yggdrasil could provide better. He wanted to return home to finish healing. He would travel with us as far as to Yggdrasil When we reached Yggdrasil, Odin wished us well and lay down on the floor of the library for a good healing charging-up.

We travelled back to the ribbon, transporting several sheep with us. We had agreed, in advance, with Harry and Odin that the first explorers would be ravens. I am not so cruel as to arbitrarily send a sheep to its slaughter, when there are steps, I can take to reduce the risk. Hermione, Cho, and I led a party to within a mile of the fortress. We had Barb, three other aurors, Captain Davies, Yael and the three sheep with us, in addition to the two ravens. Hermione and I released our ravens and they flew toward the fortress. Initially, they overflew the fortress. It only took fifteen minutes until we saw them flying back toward us. Blacky landed on my shoulder and I read its mind as it leaned its head against my ear. Blacky's report surprised me. The fortress was far larger than I had expected. It extended about half a mile along the ribbon, always covering the full width of ribbon and almost reaching the top of the woven shield covering the ribbon. The roof was featureless. There were doors and windows on the near and far sides of the fortress, but they were closed.

"I can shoot out the windows. That will allow your ravens to explore inside the fortress," Captain Davies promised me.

It immediately became clear that she intended to crawl almost as close to the fortress as Odin had been when he was struck down. I thought this probably was safe, especially since she carried no diamonds or coded stones, but I still worried about her safety. I extracted a promise that she would not approach as closely as Odin had. she readily agreed. With just her rifle and a small pack, she crouched and moved toward the fortress. When she was almost as close as Odin had come to the fortress, she switched to crawling. She only crawled a little closer, then assumed a firing position, with her rifle propped upon her pack. This was the point of maximum danger. The fortress might well ignore anyone who didn't approach closer than half a mile; it might ignore anyone at that distance who wasn't marked with one of the stones; I was not at all certain that it would ignore someone who fired upon it, even from more than half a mile away. A half dozen very loud bangs rang out. Captain Davies was now crawling backwards away from the fortress. She remained in a crawl for a considerable distance, before rising to a sort-of kneel and duck-walking back to us.

"The windows are smashed. Your ravens can explore!"

"Very brave and extremely well done," I congratulated Captain Davies at the same time as I was releasing Blacky to explore the interior of the fortress. I was jittery as we waited for Blacky to return. I didn't know what dangers she would have to confront within the fortress. I am a very impatient person. I also had no doubt that we were in range of the fortress if Blacky stumbled against something which caused the fortress to lash out against everything in its vicinity. I urged my comrades to move farther from the fortress. We set up camp a mile and a half away. We didn't have to wait long after that. Blacky was screeching towards us. She landed on my shoulder and started to unreel her memories from the inside of the fortress. The inside structure was a long, two-foot-wide corridor running the entire length, with rooms to the right - at least to the right if you entered the fortress from this direction.

All the rooms were dark. Blacky has good night vision but detected nothing moving within any of the rooms. The fortress's sting seemed to be supplied by large wand arrays in the rooms at each end of the fortress. I could tell that they were very much like our own wand arrays, because Blacky had landed on one of them and walked all over it. There were enough wandish cylinders bundled together that I had no doubt that this fortress could kill. That's all I could learn from Blacky's visit. If I wanted to learn more, we would have to enter the fortress ourselves, but I wasn't going to attempt that until after we had conducted our experiments with the sheep.

Our first sheep experiment involved one of our copies of the Frijjo stone. We hung it around the sheep's neck in a little leather pouch. We pointed the sheep toward the fortress and slapped it on its bottom. It meandered about a hundred feet toward the fortress and stopped, turning its head to stare back at us. If I didn't know how stupid sheep are, I could have convinced myself that it fully understood what fate might await it as it got nearer to the fortress. As the sheep seemed to have decided to plod its way back to us, we had to move closer to the fortress to encourage the sheep to move forward. Naturally we had emptied our pockets of Odin or Frijjo stones. Carrying them would both ruin the experiment and likely make us targets. Even though we had our defensive magical shields amped up as far as possible in this environment, I felt in my bones that if an attack by the fortress was powerful enough to bring Odin to within an inch of death, we would be certain goners if attacked. We, in this case, was just Barb and me. I couldn't risk losing both the Mother and the Muse.

We finally got the sheep to within a half mile of the fortress, without crossing that invisible barrier ourselves. A slap on the rump sent the sheep scampering another hundred feet closer to the fortress. The duplicate Frijjo stone seemed to work. This was not a complete experiment, however. We placed a duplicate Odin stone in a pouch around the neck of a second sheep. This sheep was more pliable and kept marching slowly toward the fortress. There was a loud bang and the sheep fell dead, just short of the half mile mark. Admittedly not an indisputable conclusion from only two experiments, but I decided that it was now proven safe for me to enter the fortress carrying the Frijjo stone. I would take the original, in order to eliminate the risk from a possibly less-than-perfect copy.

Barb had other ideas. She was my protective auror. It was her duty to go first. Reluctantly, I handed her the Frijjo stone and watched impotently as she slowly walked toward the fortress. I began breathing normally again when she had clearly passed the half mile marker, walking at least a dozen strides past the dead sheep. She made it all the way to the fortress and, after clearing broken pieces of glass from one of the windows, climbed through it into the fortress. She opened the door from the inside and waved to us. Then, she was gone for a very long time, as in over an hour. That's awfully long for a simple scouting mission, even in a fortress which is half a mile long.

After an hour and a half, Barb reappeared at the door and gave us a thumbs up and a wave to come forward. Hermione, Yael, and I grabbed replica Frijjo stones and walked briskly to join Barb.

"It should be safe. I dismantled the array that was pointed in this direction."

That was obvious, as soon as we walked through the door. A metal cable, which must have been attached to the array lay loose on the floor and the wand array lay upon its side, with its business end pointed at the windowless side wall. The array bore a striking resemblance to both the arrays in Odin's forge and to our first efforts at array building. It was mid-way in size between the two. I felt that this array could only have been built by someone who had studied Odin's array. This feeling was confirmed, when Barb led us down the corridor to a room in about the exact middle of the fortress. The room held an exact copy of the circle in Odin's forge. The central gem was a ruby, rather than a purple diamond. A second metal cable ran out of this room and down the corridor in the opposite direction. Presumably it was connected to the wand array at the other end of the fortress. Each of the cables was attached to a shiny hemispherical metal shell. These shells were on opposite walls and left just a small alley by which we were able to approach and examine the circle.

"I'm quite sure that I found the intelligence of the fortress," Barb enthused as she led us out of this room and into the next.

A slab of black rock, about a foot by two feet square, lay on the floor in the center of the room. It was polished to a mirror finish and had the look of a diminutive Black Stone. A thin silver wire ran from the slab to the inner ring of silicon crystals of the circle in the next room. I rested on the floor next to the slab and tried to think to it. I could feel its slight warmth, and feel a very subtle vibration, but I could not contact it. I reached for Yggdrasil, explaining that I needed its help in conversing with and taking control of this slab intelligence.

**I have not been in contact with this intelligence. Its appearance and size are identical to three such pieces of me, which Frijjo took a millennia ago. I know from where the slabs were taken, so I may be able to establish contact with those former pieces of myself.**

I remained in contact with Yggdrasil as it attempted to contact the slab. At times it worked through me, asking me to grasp the slab with both of my hands and to channel its thoughts into the slab. While I worked with Yggdrasil, Hermione was taking pictures of everything. I knew that she, Yael, and Barb were also searching for any documents which might more firmly tie this fortress to Frijjo.

It took several hours of lying on the floor, curled up around the slab, but Yggdrasil was finally able to work an introduction, telling the slab to obey me. I could converse with the slab through my own mind, without Yggdrasil's intermediation. I learned that the slab had recently answered to Frijjo but had originally been under Vili's control. I instructed the slab that it must not allow Vili to approach the fortress. A little less stun than it had used on Odin was what was needed. I didn't want it to kill him. I told it that I would have a new recognition stone, when next I came to visit.

The photography and the search were already finished, and the others were waiting for me to break my mental link. We Apparated back to our garrison on the ribbon and then back to Yggdrasil. Odin had felt well enough to leave Yggdrasil and return to his various projects in forge and observatory, but he returned to the Yddgrasil library just a few minutes after we arrived.

I told Odin that we had entered the fortress and discovered a lot, which Frijjo had left behind. This fortress is likely where she had stayed, prior to her death. Hermione spread our booty on a library table. Odin was impressed. I took a quick two minutes, while Hermione arrayed her treasures, to leave a quick summary message for Harry and Percy. I promised to return, just as soon as we had given Odin an initial look at the documents.

There were several long scrolls, upon which Frijjo had scratched out complex genealogies over many, many generations. There was a scroll showing her own ancestors and descendants. From her lone offspring came many, many Vanir. There was a scroll showing the offspring and subsequent lineage of Vili's many illicit couplings. I noted that Adrienne and her child appeared at the bottom of the scroll. They were circled in wide, thick, red ink. I was more surprised to see the Voldemort family tree and even more surprised to see that the tree included Draco, but not Little Erin. The greatest surprise was finding the Weasley family tree - ten generations of my family tree. Harry was important enough that it didn't surprise me all that much to find the Peverell/Potter tree. I was surprised that the tree included three of my, yet unborn, children fathered by Harry. The last family tree was Hermione's.

The real prize was a tall pile of papers, bound up by a purple ribbon. Despite her claims to the contrary, Frijjo had identified a whole lot of Vanir royals and other notables, all with mini-bios and half with photographs. The pile included over a hundred royals, several hundred Miomor loyalists, an additional hundred persons from Village Vana, and business and religious notables in the City. Part of the mini-bio of each included how Frijjo met/knew about them, which faction they were loyal to, how much wealth and influence they had and, I thought rather surprisingly, how well they got along with Freyr and Vili, with the implication that Frijjo was interested in turning their loyalty.

This last point became clearer in another stack of papers tied by a red ribbon. This was a political battle plan, including strategic assassinations, of how Frijjo intended to seize power on Vanaheimer. I skimmed through the pile. One thing was clear: Frijjo intended neither to give up power after a brief transition period nor to do much power sharing with others. There was a long discussion, which I read word-for-word, becoming angrier with each sentence, paragraph, and page, in which Frijjo went into great detail on how she could turn the Quest to her advantage and trap us into killing on her behalf.

There was a little leather-bound journal, apparently purchased at a London book seller, in which Frijjo's thoughts about a potential invasion of our world were recorded. She had only filled the first ten pages and her thoughts were constantly changing as we thwarted her plans and consistently proved to be stronger than she expected. The little notebook with thoughts on taking over Asgard had many more of the pages filled. I'd read it later. Correction: I would read it after Odin had finished with it. It was a very uncharitable thought, not at all suitable for a Mother or Light Guardian priestess, but I couldn't help commenting to Hermione: "I'm very glad that Frijjo is dead!"

We were far from finishing even a cursory examination of what Hermione had collected from the fortress, but I had seen enough to know that we needed to return home and finish our study at the pyramid. The notes about invading Earth made it imperative that I get that journal into Harry's hands at once. Odin understood and said that he would come with us. "We have a lot to study and important decisions to take."

Harry and Ron were waiting for us on the floor of our pyramid. Barb and I told Harry, Ron, and Shacklebolt what we had discovered inside the fortress, while Hermione and Yael left to develop the pictures. Hermione said she would explain the documents she found, just as soon as she finished with the pictures. Harry was jolted, but not surprised, as he started reading through the journal labeled "Attacking Terra". I was proud of Harry's new skill. Our Black Stone had taught him to read the standard and ancient Vanir languages. Frijjo had written in the ancient form and Harry was swiftly deciphering it and becoming angrier by the minute. "It's good we found this before anyone else did," Harry declared. "We will redouble our efforts to defend our world." I gave the 'Capturing Asgard' to Odin to study, while we awaited Hermione's return. I also quickly mentioned that although the fortress's intelligence had been under Frijjo's control when the fortress struck him down, that Vili had previously been its master. Odin was stunned.

He wasn't surprised by Frijjo's involvement but he hadn't suspected Vili's involvement, thinking the fortress was originally Ve's. I told him the fortress was newer than that. I also explained that the fortress was larger than we initially thought. When I described the wand arrays and the ruby circle, he commented "same as my dealings with you. Others whom I worked with saw my technology and the secrets were shared before I wanted or expected."

I told Odin that I thought I had managed to take control of the fortress's intelligence. I would prepare new stones and give him one, before showing the intelligence the new stone it was supposed to honor. Odin nodded approval. Hermione returned and commanded everyone's attention. She had over a hundred of the moving Wizard-type photographs. Each room was shown from two directions. There were close-ups of the array, the circle, the intelligence, and the hemispheres which caught the circle's energy. The pictures were very interesting, and I knew that Harry and his aurors would spend many hours studying them in detail. As interesting as the pictures were, the documents were of greater interest.

Harry had finished his translation. He was even angrier than when he had started reading the journal. "Frijjo was even more dangerous and conniving than I've come to believe in recent months. She kept begging for our help as she planned to conquer us."

"Yes," Odin agreed, "she always played the victim, but she was far more the conniving predator than I ever realised. I should never have wandered as much as I did and left her and my brothers in control. I blamed my brothers for corrupting my Frijjo, but I'm afraid it was always the other way around. She obviously used both and took advantage of me. I'm sorry I exposed you to her poison. I'm certain she led my brothers to their insanity, after they had served their purpose. She knew the intricacies and specific hazards of seid-space. My brothers did not. They knew little seid. They were 'look at the pictures and tell Frijjo what they needed done' types."

I suggested that it might be a good time to build the Jerusalem circle. Harry and Ron agreed. Hermione and I gathered the materials we would need to build a modern circle, while Ron gathered a half dozen aurors to assist us. Our two Hogwarts students were eager to participate, having never built a modern type of circle. Yael wanted to phone her boss, but I told her we hadn't had especially good experiences with the cellphones and the friends across the pond. It was best to simply show up at the ICW headquarters and contact Danny from there. That's what we did.

Both Danny and Ami and several of their agents accompanied us from ICW headquarters to the warehouse. I wanted to Apparate, but the anti-Apparation barriers were active. Nobody demanded to see our papers, which was a good thing, because Ron, the aurors, and the Hogwarts students didn't have any papers. It was as easy as traveling with Mrs. Toms. At the warehouse, we spent two hours planning in painstaking detail how we would Apparate the lodestone. It was big and heavy, but worst of all we couldn't allow ourselves much vertical margin of error out of fear that the lodestone would crack if it fell too far to the floor of the cave. Danny told us that tourists had been excluded from the area, that the floor of the cave was totally empty and that it now was several inches of compacted soil, rather than stone.

"That's new, the dirt, I mean. We'll have to Apparate there on a practice run to get the elevation right. It sounds like the floor has risen several inches."

"Yes, we thought that would make it safer to move the lodestone. Can you Apparate there and back without tiring yourselves, or should we drive you?"

I chose to be driven. Even at full strength and having asked Little Ba'al to jack up the power on his circle to full, Apparating the lodestone would not be an easy task. I decided that Yael and the Hogwarts students must wait outside the cave for us to arrive with the lodestone. There was too great a chance of them injuring themselves, either with a splinch or with a foot under the stone.

We were finally ready to Apparate the stone. Hermione, Ron, the four aurors and I did the work. We aimed for an inch and a half above the dirt floor and concentrated on not allowing the stone to tilt during the Apparate. We all focused upon keeping our feet clear of the stone. We were only a second in transit, but it was a terrifying second and required total concentration. We came in a little cocked, with one end of the stone slightly splinching the dirt. My side was low. Fortunately, I had my feet held up, by bending my knees. The opposite end of the stone came in four and a half inches above the dirt. That end of the stone thudded down and the stone made a small hop in that direction. Fortunately, all on that side of the stone did a second quick Apparate up and back several feet. We had pre-planned this manoeuvre, since this slight misalignment was an easily anticipated problem. The stone-soil splinch is partly what had bounced the stone. It also made a loud bang and sent up a lot of choking dust. I breathed through my shirt as we groped our way out of the cave and into fresher air. No choice but to give the air a few hours to clear.

We built the circle in a little over a day, with the Hogwarts students and Yael doing a lot of the work. Since the lodestone had to sit above ground, the entire circle had to fit within the dimensions of the lodestone. We magically bored holes on the top surface of the lodestone, to hold the purple diamond, silver rods, and silicon crystals. We mounted all of these and sealed them to the lodestone with molten silver. We added highly complex silver lattices, using the Light Guardian's design, miniaturised. We managed to complete all this work in little more than half a day. That left the hardest task: boring the hole for the quartz cylinder in the ceiling of the cave. The quartz had to be perfectly vertical and directly above the purple diamond. It took almost an entire day to achieve this. Starting and tuning the circle was a matter of an hour's work.

I felt totally drained by the time the work was finished. It was back to the ICW headquarters for a celebratory dinner hosted by Danny, Ari, and Yael. Secretary Afshar was present for the dinner and sort-of congratulated us for successfully completing the Jerusalem circle. "Thank you for complying with my request to build a modern circle in Jerusalem. It is long past time that British Wizards pull their weight and help the magical peoples of other nations, who don't have it as well as you do. You need to help the other magical communities. We are stronger when we stand united."

"We thought we were helping everyone when we defeated Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Dumbledore captured Grindelwald. Britain hasn't had a lot of help from the other magical communities." Hermione let it be known that she wasn't just going to accept the Secretary's criticism.

"I am curious why you changed your minds and built us a modern circle," Danny asked me. "I know we got off to a bad start last time you were in my country."

I had a ready answer: "Actually a number of reasons. We like Yael. Tony vouched for your government. We think you are much better able to defend your circle than Little Ba'al is to defend his. The God-ribbon-between-worlds has an on-and-off portal at Jerusalem. You are better equipped to defend yourselves against invasion or the insertion of spies from the ribbon if you have a modern circle. The ICW is here. This is a beautiful city. You let us come to a decision in our own time and didn't beat on us as Mister Tsieh did. You showed us the location of the circle cavern from the surface so that we can Apparate to and from it, rather than keeping it secret as Mr. Tsieh did."


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46 – Percy**

We drank enough wine with dinner that we felt it best to sleep over, rather than Apparate in a half-drunk state. Like our own Ministry, Danny's department had small apartments at their headquarters for use by agents during extended operations. They weren't presently in use, so we crashed there. I bunked with Barb. We said a few words of mutual congratulations for the truly great work we had done over the past two days and then I fell into stupor sleep. It was almost noon when I awoke. A quick wash and an even quicker breakfast, then it was a group meeting to decide what to do next. We could Apparate straight home or there was a city tour on offer. We opted to spend the next four hours as tourists. Before we began the tour, I messaged Harry and Percy. I told Harry that we would be delayed in order to view Jerusalem. I told Percy that we had very important new intelligence on Frijjo, including descriptions of over 500 key Vanir and Frijjo's invasion plans for Earth and Asgard.

When we arrived home, Harry, Tony, Percy, McGonagall, Odin, and Callista were waiting for us. Harry had recalled Percy "immediately, to discuss new information, which might completely alter the negotiating strategy." Having received my message, Percy hadn't been caught completely by surprise. He had his own large pile of papers.

Harry wanted this discussion to take place in his office. Apparently, he had been worried that if he didn't catch us in the pyramid, we would somehow elude him. We Apparated to Harry's conference room, where Ellie and Dad joined us. It quickly became obvious that Harry and most of the others had spent the whole time we were away studying the pictures and documents we retrieved from Frijjo's fortress. Percy and Callista, who had arrived just a couple hours before we did, were still studying the documents. I watched with great interest as Percy found a person on Frijjo's list and then searched for that person in his own notes. When he found a match, he checked it off on both lists and then compared the mini-bio information. As the rest of us collected coffee, tea, and pastries, Percy had a good fifteen minutes to continue this comparison. He reluctantly ceased his efforts, when Harry called the meeting to order.

"The Questers brought back a trove of new information. Now we know for certain that Frijjo entertained the possibility of invading us, right up until the moment she died. This notebook in invaluable. It shows us how one of the leaders of another world analyzed our strengths and vulnerabilities. The ribbon-between-worlds was the invasion path which Frijjo viewed as still open and still a strong possibility for success. She viewed the Hogwarts pyramid as practically invulnerable. Now we know where we need to focus additional effort. I'm glad that Ginny and her team agreed to build a circle in Jerusalem and completed it so quickly. I think Greece must be your next target. Now, my Deputy Minister wants to share a few thoughts."

"Yes, I think the Questers must focus on our world. That's how the Quest began and it's still what is most important. It makes no sense to build a circle on Vanaheimer or to give them more purple diamonds and improved magical technology. There are still a hundred allies of Frijjo alive and participating in the Vanir power struggle. Doubtless others from other factions will wish us harm, once they secure their hold upon their fellow Vanir. It seems a society which both feels very persecuted and sorry for itself, but also feels an almost divine right to rule all of what they call 'Odin's worlds'. They are a danger to us. I hold out hope for Percy's diplomacy. It will be a plus to avoid a bloody civil war among the Vanir. I wish the Vanir peace and prosperity. Until I am convinced that they no longer have dreams of conquering Asgard and Earth, I do not wish to see them achieve the level of magic on their world, which they view as their birthright."

"That's not fair!" Percy objected. "The Vanir I've met with have their quarrels amongst themselves, but I sense a strong desire for reconciliation and peace. It has been difficult to gain their trust, given the actions of Ginny's Questers, but I am making solid progress. An interim government, followed by fair elections, is a real possibility. I do not think the Vanir harbor dreams of invasion."

"Oh grow up, Percy!" McGonagall's tone was more than mildly dismissive. "You're not a truth teller. Neither is Callista. You have no way of knowing whether those who sit across the table from you tell you the truth or reveal their true ambitions. We have already had quite a few Vanir factions try to invade our world or attack our diplomats: Frijjo, Gna, Miomor, the royalists. What are the odds that everyone in your transition government will bear peaceful thoughts towards us?"

"Ginny and her Questers invaded their world!"

"They did no such thing. They were invited by various Vanir governments. They went to Vanaheimer to build magical circles, in order to better the lot of the Vanir people. They did not fight unless attacked. They, we - I was with them - were attacked because the Vanir were treacherous and hid many dangerous secrets, including modern circles and an alliance with Dark Gods. Your ambition has caused you to go native, Percy! Your thoughts should be focused upon the safety of our own world."

"Is that this government's view of my diplomatic efforts?"

"I said that I supported your diplomacy. However, you do frighten me when you are so overly trusting of the Vanir factions. I trust the Servers. I know the royals are rotten to the core. Ginny will support me on this. I don't know why you see her as going to Vanaheimer to murder poor, innocent Vanir. I was there. I assure you that was not the case. Ginny has bent over backwards to avoid killing. You owe your sister and her Questers an apology. I can only conclude that you are jealous."

"No, I am not jealous! I feel a lack of support for the very solid diplomacy I'm engaged in. First, I had to play second fiddle to a totally befuddled Prudence. Now, I'm looking over my shoulder, wondering when the Questers will do something to upset the Vanir I'm negotiating with and throw my negotiations into turmoil. I am negotiating among groups of Vanir who have members who were killed by my sister. That makes my job extra difficult! The main thing we bring to the table is that the Questers will build a modern circle and repair the White Columns. Now they intend to renege on that. Where does that leave me as negotiator? Ginny has hobbled my diplomacy at every turn."

"No!" I packed so much heart-felt indignation into that one word. "We did not kill. We used stunning curses, while all around us were killing. We fought only when there was no other choice. The royalist faction attacked the pyramid twice and would have slaughtered the Servers. We couldn't allow that to happen. If you cannot see, accept, and deal with reality, then you won't ever be much of a diplomat. You are all too willing to believe the lies that the Vanir tell about your own sister and your own people. it really is kind of despicable. Hermione and I have tried very hard to be good Light Guardian Priestesses and the Mother and Muse. We try very hard to avoid killing even obviously bad people. You really couldn't do a much better job of turning me into an enemy."

"It's really very simple," Odin addressed Percy. "I am the sponsor of the Quest. The Questers traveled to Vanaheimer, because I asked them to. They went to build magical circles and to fix the shattered White Columns. Yggdrasil trained them to do that. They did not go to kill. They strongly complained to me that Frijjo had killed prisoners, whom they had stunned. Frijjo admitted as much. Your sister and Hermione saved Frijjo's life. That was a favor to me. They didn't trust Frijjo. Frijjo misled us all. She was able to keep her worst schemes secret. First Miomor and then the royals tried to kill the Questers. Why do you deny them the right of self defense, using non-deadly curses? When they did kill in the chamber of the White Columns, they had no choice but to use powerful curses - they were fighting Gods. The bomb also was unavoidable. The Vanir can cry about the damage, but they secretly invited dark Gods to live with and fight for them. That had to be stopped. You speak like a fool."

"Please, enough!" Callista sounded frightened. "Percy is frustrated. Negotiations haven't been going great. So many Vanir factions believe that only they are the rightful leaders. Percy is right that we are seen as untrusted outsiders. Percy doesn't really mean what he said about you and Hermione."

"This is the second time he's portrayed us as crazed killers. I won't have it! I've faithfully sent reports of the secrets we've discovered, directly to Percy. I'm done."

"Perhaps we should adjourn. Percy hasn't had a chance to more than skim the documents that the Quester

s brought back. That puts him at a disadvantage. Let him have a chance to learn what the rest of you have learned, then we can talk more rationally and unemotionally as equals."

Callista made sense but needed to realize "the Questers found these documents, but we haven't had a chance to read them. We have lived much of what is described in them. Hermione and I have only skimmed them. We had to rush off to build a circle in Jerusalem."

"We'll meet again in a day," Harry announced. "I want Percy and Callista to stay. We have things to discuss. I also have grown very tired of Percy treating my wife like a wanton slaughterer. I know that to be a lie."

Since Hermione had copied all of the documents, my crew and Odin Apparated back to our house to study and discuss them. As I studied Frijjo's mini-bios, it was clear that barely more than fifty Vanir made up the group whose support she could depend upon. Close to half of those seemed to have been purchased with Odin's gold and silver. The other close to six hundred names divided into close to a dozen factions, most of which didn't get along with each other, and agreed upon little beyond hating Frijjo and their determination that nobody associated with Asgard should have any role in even a transitional government. The Servers of the Great Black Stone were willing to work with her, would not oppose her presence in a transitional interim government, but did not like or trust her. At least that is how Frijjo thought she was viewed.

I read Frijjo's notebook where she recorded her thoughts about invading our world. I had missed it when I did a very quick partial scan, but she definitely had identified the ribbon-between-worlds as our major weak point. She thought that with a force of a hundred she could make some headway in an attack. Greece was identified as a particular weak point and an easy route to Durmstrang. Capturing Durmstrang would be a major victory and much easier than Hogwarts or our Ministry. She didn't think the time was right for an attack. She didn't even have a force of a hundred, let alone a hundred she could spare from her meager forces on Vanaheimer. I felt a chill when I read "I could raise a larger army if I could convince them how much plunder exists on Terra. A month's campaign and my soldiers would be rich beyond their wildest imagining."

There was a knock on the door. I opened the door and was confronted by a weepy Callista. I led her into the room. Just Odin, Ron and Hermione were with me. Callista seemed surprised that Harry wasn't present and admitted as much. "I thought Harry would come here as soon as our meeting was over. it was brief. Harry told Percy that he was very upset by Percy's continued attacks upon you. He said that the diplomatic mission to the Vanir was over 'for now'. Harry said he didn't trust the Vanir and was becoming less convinced that he could trust Percy. The Quest had always had Harry's approval. Before that, Arthur had approved it. Part of Percy's job was to support the Questers not to attack you. Percy doesn't really see you as killers. That's what some of the Vanir say when they want to steer the negotiations away from the emerging consensus. At first Percy said that this interpretation was false, the Questers had been attacked. As claims of the murder of good Vanir by Questers were raised again and again to derail the negotiations, usually by the representative of the royals, Percy stopped defending you and became frustrated. He does believe his job would be much easier and he would already have achieved success if the Quest had never come to Vanaheimer. But... he really doesn't see you as killers. He just spoke out of anger and frustration."

"Then he made the same false charge out of anger and frustration twice. He also is supporting those at the ICW who want to force us to build a modern circle in China. I am not convinced that this is a good idea. It is clear that Mr. Tsieh would be pleased if Hermione and I turned up dead. Percy is too eager to curry favor with Mr. Tsieh.

"You should know that I am not at all unhappy that Harry has sacked Percy. It actually makes me feel warm inside."

"Percy is sorry that he took out his frustration on you. He suffered as much from the Prudence fiasco as you did. He had a good Ministry position, which he enjoyed, before his father packed us off to Vanaheimer to be a buffer between Prudence and your Questers. It was a useless assignment. It was even more useless than your father described it, because he told a different story to Prudence and yet another story to you. Percy is foundering, he can't afford to be on bad terms with your husband... or you."

"Then he should apologize to me himself for twice calling me a killer and for standing silent when Mr. Tsieh suggested that it was Hermione or my responsibility to march to our death in front of Ve's fortress, to ensure that Vili was killed. I try very hard to avoid killing and I take my brother's accusation very personally. How else would you expect me to take it?"

"I don't know. I understand that you have been through a lot and are hurting. I know you are a good person. I think that is also true of Percy."

"I didn't expect to find you here, Callista." Harry had chosen this particularly bad moment to return. "I'm not going to change my mind on abandoning the Vanir mission. I think it has become counter-productive and that Percy has shown a selfish determination to produce a personal success at the expense of others in my government and of my government's interests. He has become as trusting of the Vanir he is talking to as Prudence was of Miomor. That isn't a good thing. You suggested that we take some time before discussing this further. I thought that a good suggestion, yet here you are, behind my back, continuing the discussion."

"I am not going behind your back. I respect you too much to ever do that. I am just trying to head of a feud between Ginny and Percy. That benefits nobody and can destroy Percy. I know he is behaving a bit irrationally, but I fear for my husband's future."

"He needs to apologize to my wife. His comments were totally unacceptable. He is a very undiplomatic diplomat. I saw first hand why Arthur sometimes felt that Percy was willing to throw family members to the trolls to advance his career. I think that's what he just tried to do. It's incredibly stupid for him to think he can gain my support by casting Ginny as a wanton killer, but that's what he tried. I can't accept that."

Callista was actively weeping again as she left. "I'll talk to Percy," she promised Harry. "The Vanir seem toxic to the Weasley family."

"Have you studied Frijjo's notes about invading Earth?" Harry asked Hermione and me. We nodded 'yes'. "Then you know that you and your Questers need to be off to Greece as quickly as possible. I'm sorry to push you after your brother has just attacked you, but if there are Vanir who are of a mind to attack, recalling the diplomatic mission may spur them to attack. I will meet with the Bad Dude while you're gone. You are welcome to take all of the silver, gems, and other supplies you need. I fear that a circle in Greece may be needed very soon. I've talked to Viktor. He will help the Greeks defend against an attack from the ribbon."

"We should build a fortress on the other side of the Earth portals, to block an attack from Vanaheimer," I suggested.

"Yes, we'll do that. It will make life more pleasant for your garrison and they will be safer. Pick some members of your garrison to lead the construction. Viktor, Tony, and I are willing to furnish supplies."

Harry headed back to the Ministry, taking Ron with him. Odin commented "We all have our problems, many of them due to Frijjo and my brothers. I am sorry. I will help to build the fortress against the Vanir. I must go and see to my world's defenses. With more of us, and the new Aesir loyal to me, I think we have an excellent chance to defend ourselves. I promise not to turn spirit until this danger is past. I owe that to my own people as well as to you. Good luck to all of us."

Hermione and I started to pull together plans for a new fortress and for a circle in Greece. We immediately realized that it would take the rest of our lifetimes to build a fortress on the scale that Frijjo and Ve had achieved. Was that even necessary? We needed a space just large enough to hold a modern circle, a number of wand arrays and housing for a half dozen defenders. We could strategically place small bombs in front of the enclosure, for added protection. The whole affair could be very heavily magicked, with every protective spell we, Yggdrasil, or the ancient priestesses ever thought of. The charms Hermione had installed around the camps she shared with Harry, while they were on the run from the Death Eaters, could render the enclosure almost undetectable. Ron knew the spells the Order had employed to protect Grimmauld Place. We could also apply these protections to Frijjo's fortress. Neither fortress had to hold out for long, without reinforcement. We seemed to be zeroing in on a workable design. The less material we had to transport onto the ribbon, the better. Frijjo's fortress actually seemed way to big. What possible advantage did she gain from making the place half a mile long, when four or five rooms would do just fine? Perhaps we could save time and effort by shortening Frijjo's fortress and repurposing some of her construction materials.

We were hard at work on this plan, when I heard another knock at the kitchen door. It was Mom... and Percy. Percy certainly was hiding behind the women-folk.

As I opened the door, I admonished Mum "please don't try to speak for Percy. He is the person who insulted me. He needs to speak for himself."

Mum silently entered and sat at our kitchen table. Percy entered and remained standing. "I really am very sorry. I was feeling a lot of stress and allowed it to overwhelm me. I really do know that you and Hermione aren't cold killers. So many Vanir hurled that insult at me, so many of them said that your actions made ME untrustworthy - I have no excuse, it all just got to me. I really am sorry. I know both of you well enough to know that the Vanir lied about you. I should have just continued defending you. You certainly are worthy of my defense and that certainly was part of my job as ambassador. I went astray. Maybe I craved a success too much. I know you are angry and you have a right to be. I should have had your back, both with the Vanir and with Mr. Tsieh. There really isn't much to like about either the Vanir representatives, apart from the Servers, or Mr. Tsieh. Prudence just left me with a tremendous desire to succeed as ambassador. That's not a justification. I know that I was wrong. I know that I won't be returning to Vanaheimer as ambassador. I don't think Harry is sending a replacement. He is less happy with the Vanir than he is with me."

"Okay, I forgive you." We exchanged a very awkward hug.

Mum had brought two bottles of Witch sherry. I supplied glasses and Mum filled them. We all drank. I guess we all felt burdened by problems.

"I hate to see my family fighting." It was obviously true and the only words Mum spoke during this visit.


	47. Chapter 47

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**Chapter 47 - Greece**

There were problems with building a circle in Greece. Hermione and I didn't know where the old circle had been, and Phaedra told us that she had heard rumours of an ancient source of magic but didn't know its location. "Perhaps Aristotle can help you. He studies our history and lives in the northeast of mainland Greece, where the ancient circle was supposed to be – somewhere near, in, or under Mount Olympus."

So even if there was an ancient circle, and I wasn't certain this was the case, we couldn't be sure that it retained enough magical strength to be detected by our sensors. Even if we could sense it with a broom fly-over, that wouldn't tell us the location of the entrance to the cavern. We were dependent upon the Greeks. Beyond that, we lacked a spare lodestone. I had no idea where or how to search for one. Hermione said she would think about it, but off-hand she didn't know exactly how we would go about Witch sculpting one. Since magical energy was none too strong in Greece, we'd have to sculpt the lodestone on site. Apparating it into the Greek cavern would be far too dangerous a task.

Hermione and I were debating the best course of action, as we lay on blankets beneath a tree on the Hogwarts lawn. Cissy tore herself away from the planning of the clinic design to join us. So did Adrienne, who was carrying her infant son in a pouch on her back. Adrienne said she had been watching us and was curious what weighty issue had us so locked in rapt discussion. Hermione explained.

"Wouldn't Odin know?" Cissy inquired.

He might. He certainly spent time wondering our world back in that day. I wouldn't be surprised if he had presented as one of the Greek Gods.

"Thank you, that's an excellent suggestion. I'll try to contact him through Yggdrasil."

Odin told me that of course he knew of the magical circle in ancient Greece. He had led the ancients as they built the thing. It was his own 'ancient' design. He'd be happy to Apparate us there. He'd meet us inside the Hogwarts pyramid.

Odin had clearly read Frijjo's plans to take over Asgard. "That Frijjo was a totally contemptible manipulator. To think I loved such an awful person. Her main secret weapon for taking over Asgard was me. She was very beautiful, but I can resist wenchly charms. She had secret weapons I was unaware of. She had what you call Siren skills. She also used both a love potion and a friendship potion on me. It is she who reinforced my love of wandering. It is she who repeatedly discussed how the ancient Aesir had learned to be noncorporeal and become the Light Guardian. She created that yearning in me. What is bodiless travel through space to a fierce warrior and ruler of a world? She counted on my incorporation into the Light Guardian ridding herself of me forever. You didn't read all her journal. After the first ten pages, she copies twenty pages of her thoughts from many years ago – written records in danger of perishing to time. I can follow her schemes from four of your millennia ago. She preyed upon Ve during my early wanderings. It was she who convinced him he could be the greatest God ever. It was she who persuaded him to build the fortress and to share all his knowledge with her. Ve knew an astonishing amount of dark magic. It was she who led Ve into seid-space and insanity. That alone is enough reason to hate her memory forever.

"But you need a ride to the Olympian circle. Grab my hands. I think just Hermione and Ginny for the first trip. I'm not as attuned to your magical energy as your people are. This won't be an easy trip and two is all I can transport safely. Sorry, Barb, you can travel on the next wave. Has Hermione packed everything you will need? Magical viewers? The camera? You might need your brooms. And measurement tools. Oh, bring lights. If the circle has totally lost power from lack of tuning or physical damage, the cavern lights won't come on when we arrive."

We grabbed Odin's hands. It was a several second, stomach-turning, churning trip through space, followed by a three-foot drop to a slightly uneven stone floor in a dark cavern, which improved to merely dim, once the cavern lights did their best to turn on. If the floor hadn't been coated with a couple inches of lightly packed rock dust, I think I might have seriously injured myself. My left knee did feel sore, as did my right ankle. I could stand. I could walk. I turned on the light bar I held in the hand, which wasn't clasping Odin's. I had been stupid. I could have landed less awkwardly had I been able to see. Landing in the dark is tough, especially when you must allow an extra margin of safety above an uncertain ground level. Not Odin's fault, I doubt he had been here in a couple thousand years. Hermione had come in only a foot above the floor and seemed unphased by her landing, although she followed my lead in turning on her light.

As Odin apologised to me "sorry, it's been a long time since I've Apparated to this cavern and never from Hogwarts," I realised that I had remained upright only because Odin had a firm hold upon my arm and had kept me from falling. "Can you walk?" I tried. I succeeded. Holding my light aloft, I walked over to the outer ring of the circle. Like the early British circles, this ring was tall basalts. The basalts had obviously been connected by a fine silver mesh, but at a spot several yards to my left a rock had fallen from the ceiling of the cavern and rent the silver mesh. I suspected that was not the only reason the circle wasn't working.

Hermione had given her light bar to Odin and was taking pictures of the circle. I pointed out damage as we walked around the outer ring. Only one other area was damaged and this was minor damage from the amount of dust weighting down the silver webbing enough that the strands were distorted and multiple layers of the fine silver thread were touching in several spots between two of the larger basalts at the rear of the circle. Hermione took close-up pictures and tried to blow off the dust with her wand. Most of the dust was willing to be blown away, but the lightened webbing did not spring back to its normal shape.

"I get the sense that this circle was turned off. When we work our way inside, I'll try to restart it," Hermione told me. "This is the largest circle we've seen. Same for the cavern size."

"Back then, I had yet to invent my modern circles. I built on a grand scale then. I found this cavern almost by accident. It was less than half this size. I and the Goblin ancients of your world made it what you see now. I wish we had more light. I remember this place as truly magnificent, and it was powerful enough to launch a civilisation. I miss those days. I enjoy your company and know you to be true friends, but back then I was worshipped. Heady stuff!"

The next circle was made up of calcite crystals. Just by the curve of the circle as I moved between the two nearest crystals, I could tell that there are a lot of them. When I commented upon this observation, Odin mused "there are twenty-seven of them. That is because twenty-seven is one of my favorite numbers. This ring seems to be in good shape. Over two-thousand years and this circle was never vandalized. Back in the day, many ancient Greeks knew how to find this cavern. It had its keepers. They and the other worthies who visited here kept its secret. This was the most revered spot on your world. Then it was completely forgotten. It will bring joy to my heart to see this circle returned to life. I must help you; I mean I must join you in the actual hard work, from rebuilding the circle to cleaning the muck of the ages from this sacred place. I can't stay full time, there really are pressing needs on Asgard. You also must help on my world."

There was another ring of much shorter crystals. "They are what you call tourmaline," Odin explained. "I brought them from Vanaheimer. That world produced excellent crystals. Mined out long ago. It is a far more ancient place than this world. Look at the silver braiding. I used a loose twisted spiral pattern back then - double strand with support wire at intervals to hold the shape. I loved that shape." He held his light bar up close to the silver strands so I could see what he meant. It looked like the silver was engaged in a delicate dance. For some reason, this ring was totally undamaged. I counted twenty-seven tourmalines.

We move inward to what I had hoped we would find: the lodestone. I wasn't surprised to see it. As Odin had said, the circle had clearly escaped vandals. I can only describe the lodestone as humongous. I measured both with my natural stride and by laying one shoe directly in front of the other and counting. This stone was thirteen to fourteen feet on a side. Strangely, it was only a foot tall, which is why we hadn't spotted it immediately. "How much of the lodestone is buried?" I asked Odin.

"Just two feet. It is far from being a cube. This is just how I thought to do it back then. It does make it much easier to work on the gems atop the lodestone."

"You made this lodestone - it's not natural stone, none of them are, are they," Hermione's tone was almost accusatory, as if she felt she had been deliberately excluded from a vital secret, which she had every right to know.

"Of course, I made it. It's not as detailed as your method for making purple diamonds, but it requires more brute magical force. You're so smart, I thought you understood. I really wasn't trying to keep you uneducated. You and Ginny, and whichever of your friends you trust enough, really are my chosen successors. It has taken me a while to fully internalise that obvious conclusion. Hopes for Frijjo and for Vili were very hard to lay aside. So much of my history has been with them. You are young Witches from a young world. In the back of my mind are still images of a very unsophisticated Terra, a very superstitious and illogical Terra. I have been progressively setting that thinking aside. Frijjo and Vili never could do that. I can tell from Frijjo's writings and my discussions with Vili that right up to the present, they saw Terrans as primitives for them to rule. Frijjo saw how well your pyramid was defended but blamed all that on magical technology you stole from me and secrets I unwisely revealed to you. She saw absolutely nothing wrong with what Vili did to Adrienne, including the attempt to steal her son - she saw him as wiser and entitled to decide what was best. I apologise for my brother. I know I can never release him. In his way, he is more dangerous than Ve was."

"I know how difficult it is to lose a brother," I sympathized with Odin. Hermione gave me the side eye, thinking I was talking about Percy. It was mostly Fred, but Percy's accusation that I was a cold-blooded killer had unnerved me and made him seem more alien than family.

I had been examining the central lodestone as I listened to the internal thoughts which Odin spoke aloud. The design of magical circles had changed. This one had a large central quartz cylinder embedded in the surface. This was surrounded by a circle of six, quite large, rubies. Around that was a circle of a dozen tourmalines. All the gems were cemented in place with silver, but there was no hint that they had ever been linked by silver webbing.

"Exactly how old is this circle," I asked Odin. "It seems it must be a lot more than five-thousand years old."

"Not a lot more than that, perhaps a little over six-thousand years. It wasn't the classical Greek civilisation which this circle sparked, it was the Minoans, who developed a thousand years after I built this circle. Back then, it was me and the Goblins and a very few, very primitive, totally nonmagical humans. Have you seen what you need to see? It's more than a little chilly here."

"I have, as soon as Hermione finishes examining and photographing the gems, I'm good to go. I think we have everything here that we'll need to restart the circle. We'll bring our Greek friends when we return."

"I'm almost finished, but I still want to try to re-start the circle and view it through our magical force detectors. That will give us more information on just how much work needs to be done. This should be a safe, interesting, highly educational, experience for our Hogwarts students. Ron may want to put on his professor hat again. The gems are too dirty to do a detailed examination, but I found no gross problems. It's time to fire this circle up. I suggest that for safety sake, you and Odin move outside the rings. I'll Apparate out of here as soon as I start it. I really want to get the cavern lights to work, so that we can get a good look at everything before we leave. The cavern is too large and too dark for my camera flash to be much help.

Odin and I obeyed and left the circle, finding and pointing out to Hermione a nice open space for her to Apparate to, where there weren't any stones or large pebbles hiding amidst the dust. Hermione nodded acknowledgement, then touched her wand to the central quartz. The circle sprang to life and an instant later Hermione was standing beside us. The circle had significant problems, most of which we had already identified. We spent a few minutes studying the magical force lines through our viewers. The gap in the basalt wiring was causing a serious imbalance, the two spots where the silver webbing between the calcites was misshapen with individual strands touching seemed to have melted, and most serious of all, the main output power from the lower quartz cylinder was splatting off the ceiling. I assumed this meant that the quartz cylinder, which should be in the ceiling directly above the quartz on the lodestar was either missing, damaged, or misaligned.

Hermione quickly took a series of pictures, while I quickly Witch painted the force lines I had observed. This took a very uncomfortable hour, as the circle had progressed to screaming in our heads. Hermione finally killed the thing and we all returned to the Hogwarts pyramid. I had two and a half of the four paintings I had intended to make. I didn't mind Hermione's cutting my painting short. It was a mercy.

We almost immediately had a meeting of Hermione's committee, with Phaedra and Aristotle added. Everyone was encouraged by our report on the condition of the Olympus circle and grateful that we had that circle's designer to help us resurrect it. Everyone agreed that we must begin work immediately. Odin stated that of course Olympus counted as a Quest stop. Of course, it made sense for Ron to lead a larger group of Hogwarts students. That would be allowed for this Quest stop. "Really, Questing is less important than just doing at this time. The Questers have already proven their mettle. They must lead this effort, but all you propose is good," Odin acknowledged.

The Greeks were very pleased to be getting their ancient circle back. Phaedra would join our expedition. She would bring three of her sister Witches and her phoenix. How could the Greeks not participate in such a venture?

We were home for two and a half days. Hermione and I each got to spend one full uninterrupted day with our husbands. Then duty called. We Apparated back to Olympus. In addition to silver and back-up quartzes and gems for the ancient circle, we also took materials to build a modern circle next to the ancient one. Odin wanted to experiment with that approach. I was eager to find out how to tune the pair. Odin didn't know how or if this would work, so it was a giant and very interesting experiment.

It was also a very slow and laborious experiment. We spent only a day and a half repairing the ancient circle. Unfortunately, this had to be preceded by five days of laborious cleaning the circle and inspecting the condition of the cleaned gems, calcites, and quartzes. Not all of us could work on the circle at the same time, even though I had split my crew into three shifts. Half of the crew was left to muck out the cavern itself. This required filling buckets and sacks with debris and Apparating them to the surface. Mona was the only student adept enough at Apparation to transport debris to the surface. She was assisted by aurors - one to transport debris and two to others for protection. I could tell that Mona gloried in this sign of being more adult that the other students. It seemed to more than compensate for being assigned to muck-out duty.

Our biggest problem with both work and comfort was the darkness and cold in the cavern. We were reliant on battery-powered lights. Since our supply of batteries was limited, we couldn't run many lights round the clock. We used our eternal flames, but they polluted the air and used up oxygen. Each of us spent only our 8-hour shift in the cavern, then Apparated to a sleeping, eating and planning venue, which our Greek hosts had set up for us. After the first four shifts, with the need for extra batteries becoming imperative, Aristotle went on a purchasing expedition. He recruited friends to shop in other parts of Athens and Greece on succeeding days, because we didn't want our volume of battery buying to draw notice.

"Didn't this cavern have an actual ventilation system in the old days?" I almost begged Odin to rack his memory for a solution.

"It must have. It obviously failed over the centuries. I'll talk to Yggdrasil. That which I can no longer remember, Yggdrasil remembers for me. That would be a good trick for you to use."

Odin learned that he had indeed explained the ventilation system to Yggdrasil. He could show us where the ventilation shafts entered the cavern. We explored the two ground level shafts, holding lit torches in front of them. There was no air flow. I sent Aagog to the ceiling to investigate the two shafts. She sensed no air flow in the first shaft and was unable to locate the second shaft. She told me that she would climb the shaft she had found and search for the obstruction. It was not surprising that the external entrance to the shafts had been blocked after so many years.

Waiting for Aagog to return was a lot more difficult than I expected. I knew she might have a long climb and didn't expect an instant return, but as I cleaned rubble, I kept glancing at the shaft to see if she was returning down it. I shook my head, not knowing why I placed so much significance on Aagog's exploration. Captain Davies had told me that we could transport liquid oxygen to the cavern, the same way we Apparated all our supplies. That should suffice to give us enough breathing air keep the circle operable. It was presently sputtering along well enough to give us light and not scream in our heads that it needed re-tuning. It just somehow felt that having that shaft cleared would make us all a lot safer. Natural air versus Muggle technology.

Tendra nudged my shoulder. "You must come and see what I found."

She led me to the rear wall of the cavern, which she and several others had been cleaning. "I knew that this was Goblin construction. Odin said so and I recognize the ancient rock-working technique. But... I've found writing. It is in very ancient Goblin-speak. I can't read more than a word or two, but here," she pointed at a thoroughly washed section of polished cavern wall, surrounded by the normal rough chisel pattern of the Goblin workmen. "Words, chiseled into the wall. They must be very important. This is the only polished section of wall we've discovered so far. The ancients wanted these words to be read!"

I called to Hermione to join us. As I was pointing to the writing and asking Hermione if she thought she could translate, Aagog lowered herself on a spider thread, right in the middle of our group.

"The path is clear for a long way. I leave silk so you can measure. I leave thing that Hermione give me. It is where tunnel is blocked. I could not go higher."

"It's a radio transmitter," Hermione explained. "It won't penetrate much stone or soil, but if it is very near the surface, you might detect it with the receiver I am about to give to you. Take your broom and fly over the area. I thought if you were very careful, feeling for obstacles at intervals and then Apparating several thousand feet above the last obstacle, that you could Apparate straight up and then ride your broom in a search pattern with the receiver and one of the viewers. I'll work on translating the ancient Goblin-speak while you do that. Harry would want me to say this: please be careful!"

Barb and Ron insisted upon coming with me. Since we thought that Odin might recall surface features, as viewed from the air, we also recruited him. We had only brought four brooms with us and this used all of them. We measured Aagog's silk to determine the absolute minimum distance we would have to Apparate. There were exactly six-hundred and twenty-six feet of silk. We were very far underground. Aagog was a larger spider than when I first met her, but spinning all of that silk must have taken a log out of her. I brought her a full pound of minced and insisted that she eat right away. She then drank quite a lot of water.


	48. Chapter 48

**Chapter 48 – A Super-Circle**

Hermione, Barb, Odin, and I deliberately plotted Apparation courses, which deviated from straight up at angles away from center, which would launch us in the figure of an opening four-petaled flow bud. We still didn't know how long an Apparate was needed. We would feel for obstacles and then extend our destination what we felt was an additional fifteen-hundred feet. For safety, we were astride our brooms, so that we could immediately right ourselves and fly to maintain altitude.

I started to mentally reach for my first possible Apparation destination. I knew I had to go at least twenty-five hundred feet, so I focused on what seemed to be that distance. I was shocked that my desired landing point was obstructed. My sense of Apparating distance was off. I tried for a point which I hoped would be twice as far away. I felt myself traveling along my chosen path. I was upside down and needing too much effort to get atop my broom. I finally managed to haul myself upright and start flying in a loop. Breathing was difficult. I was too high and the darkness was disoriented. The moon above said I was right-side up.

If I was having this much trouble, what shape was Hermione in? I messaged her through the Stone.

**Help, I think I'm flying upside down.**

"Light your light tube. I'll find you." I searched below me. She wasn't in front of me. I turned my broom in a semi-circle. There she was! Hermione was below me and a thousand feet away in the direction I was flying. I swooped towards her, ordering her "pull up on your broom and try to gain just a little altitude, I'll be at your side very soon."

I also reached for Barb, quickly explaining the problem.

**I see her light. I'm on my way. I'm a little farther from her than you are.**

**I pulled up too much. I'm stalling and afraid I'm going to slip off my broom."**

"Almost there, just hand on. Think hard about moving forward and up."

I was at her side. I used one arm to pull the nose of her broom down so she was level, then I got right beneath her and pushed up my shoulders. Barb had arrived. I saw her grab Hermione's shoulder and pull in a way which rotated both the broom and Hermione. I changed my support to pushing both upward and in the direction of rotation. I saw Hermione trying to lean in that direction. She was good! "We'll fly beside you for a little while, so you can catch your breath. Night makes this tough, the air is thin and I'm not sure how far above the mountain we are. This was dumb!"

We decided to fly in very tight circles and slowly lower our altitude. It should start to be light within an hour. Secrecy was no longer the number one objective; survival was. We knew we were near very tall mountains, we just didn't know how far from them we were or what direction they were. I tried to slowly lead the center of our circle a little in the direction from which I had come when we set out to rescue Hermione. We all rehearsed the drill: if we were about to crash, Apparate upwards and backwards, then cut speed.

I was soon comfortable flying in our tight little circles and concerned that I couldn't use the viewer once the sun came up. "I'm going to use the magical viewer. Please watch me so I don't fly off course."

Barb was instantly flying on my outer edge and guiding me. I saw the bright rose-pink of magical energy almost as soon as I looked through the viewer. It was several thousand feed off to one side and far below us. I assumed, but wasn't sure, that I was seeing the magic as it left the ground, which would make that point ground level. If that was true, we could just fly to that point. I asked Hermione if I were correct.,,

"I... think so. I'm not certain. Let me think for a few minutes. I'll try to contact Yggdrasil." We continued flying in our tight little circles for several minutes. I realized that we knew there was no mountain between us and the magic, or I couldn't see it as I did. I mentioned this to Hermione.

"I think it is safe to start drifting our circles in the direction of the magic. You lead the way and we'll follow. I'm still thinking."

We drifted closer to the source of magic. I stopped our progress about five hundred feed away and a hundred feet above the source.

"Yes! I agree that we should try to land there. So does Yggdrasil."

We stopped flying in circles and I led us very slowly toward the source. We were flying slower than possible to maintain level flight, which was fine because it was my intention to slowly descend. As soon as we landed, Hermione pulled out her radio receiver and began to search the surface. "We have to hurry. The transmitter only had enough power to transmit at full strength for about twelve hours. After that, our chances of finding it go down fast. That twelve hours is also just an estimate. It is now a little over ten hours since Aagog started up the shaft with the transmitter."

Hermione led us in ever-widening circles, as she tried to pick up what I knew would be a very faint radio signal. After we had spent an hour in this unsuccessful pursuit, I spotted a man approaching us. He carried a long gun. I stopped, but Hermione urged us on "time is fleeting, he is coming to us. Let him come. I need to cover more ground."

I walked after her, halting only upon the command, in Greek "Stop! What are you doing here? This is my property and I didn't give you permission to be here."

I was very glad that I had refreshed my Greek, before setting out upon this expedition. "We're just hiking, not causing problems."

"Liar! You aren't hikers. Hikers don't walk about in circles as you are. You're treasure hunters. I've seen your kind before. Your presence is a nuisance and a problem. Come with me, I'm going to call the police."

I had no intention of following him, but Hermione dropped a weighted scarf to mark her spot and willingly marched along behind the irate property owner. The rest of us followed. He was leading us to a house with a small out building. He led us into the house. It was just us, him, and his wife. "Did you call the police?"

"No, I was waiting for your signal."

"Do it now!"

As she reached for the phone, I performed a silent 'Off!', first on her husband and then on her. Barb grabbed the gun and unloaded it.

"I feel certain that the shaft is beneath one of these buildings," Hermione sounded more hopeful than certain, but I had learned not to doubt her. "Is there a basement? Look for a door down."

We quickly found the door, it being in the kitchen, where we were standing. "Barb and I will check the basement. You explore the out building. I should have packed two radio receivers. It would have been much more efficient."

There was a big lock on the outbuilding door. Odin pointed his finger at it, and the lock shattered.

The building was storage for gardening tools and equipment. A largish tractor sat in the middle of the room. I wished I could start it and drive it out of the shed, but Mr. Granger hadn't gone into that much detail in his Muggle Studies course. Odin's hand gesture moved me to the front of the tractor. He then did the Godly version of 'Leviosa' and walked the vehicle out onto the grass. It didn't seem like he had even exerted himself.

"Okay, we search the floor. This reminds me of the place Voldemort hid Jaden. There was a large basement underneath a small building like this one. We must be very careful. That particular shed had more magical traps than I have ever seen in such a little space."

The tractor had rested upon a large piece of canvas cloth. It was plausible, as the cloth bore many signs of oil leaks from the tractor, but I was certain that the cloth hid a trapdoor. I closed the shed door and viewed the cloth through my detector. As soon as I put the detector to my eyes, rose lines jumped out at me. "This is it!"

I handed the viewer to Odin as I messaged Hermione that I had found our target. I told Odin that we must wait for the others. This could be dangerous if we didn't move slowly and carefully. I handed the viewer to Hermione as soon as she stepped through the door.

"You have very good instincts. This changes a lot. The shaft is being guarded by a magical person of significant skill. I didn't expect to find our target magicked." She walked all around the cloth, getting a close-up look through the viewer. "The magic is coming from beneath the cloth; it isn't attached to the cloth, itself. I think it safe to simply vanish the cloth, but it's foolish for more than one of us to be within range of whatever bad might happen, when the cloth disappears. We're in another land and we don't understand their magic. I'm not even sure this is Greek. Phaedra certainly showed no hint of this sort of skill. The rest of you get well clear of this shed and I'll do the magic."

"No, I'll do the magic," Barb objected.

Odin sent us all away. When he called us back, the cloth had vanished and a trap door was revealed. "I was good and didn't lift the door. I can do it, while you go back to a safe distance. Well?"

"No," Hermione held his arm. "I think our next step must be to learn what we can from the man with the gun. First, one of us has to Apparate back and fetch Phaedra and her phoenix. Bring back Fawkes, as well, please." She was looking at Barb, who was the obvious choice for the job.

Phaedra looked at the man and his wife. "I met him once. His name is Androcles. I had no notion he lived in these parts. I don't know the woman. Androcles isn't an active member of our community." I asked her to take the two birds and wait outside, while we made an initial attempt to question Androcles. I wanted to know what he would say, when he didn't know that we knew he was a distant part of the Greek magical community.

The man didn't want to talk. Spiked Veritaserum helped a little. I told him "There's no use pretending. We know you're magical. We've been in your shed. We saw the magical energy through our viewer. we found the trap door under your floor cloth."

That bit of news made him even more silent. I feared so strongly that the man was about to pull a Lucius Malfoy, that I urged him "wait! Don't do anything rash. There is soeone outside whom you need to meet."

He recognized Phaedra, but he couldn't stop staring at the two phoenix. I seized the opportunity. "This is Phaedra's bird, one of a very few magical creatures in this part of the world. The other phoenix is Fawkes. He was Professor Dumbledore's bird, but Dumbledore left him to Hermione. All of us are magical. Hermione, Barb, and I are British. This gentleman is the major god Odin, who also was an ancient Greek God. He is from another world - Asgard. I'm Ginny. I'm the Mother of the Future. Hermione is my Muse. We are on Quest. As I think you already know, there is an ancient magical circle almost exactly underneath you. We are trying to repair and re-start it. It is sputtering along now. Surely you've felt the change in magic. I think we are friends, so please cooperate and answer our questions."

"My wife? Is she harmed? She isn't magical. She knows nothing of my activities."

Our 'Off' was reversed and his wife sat up and rushed to him, a puzzled look upon her face. They hugged, her standing, he seated in a chair. "I'm sorry Melina, I've kept a very large secret from you. I thought I could keep you safe by not telling you about myself. I'm a Wizard. I can do magic. I guard a very great secret. That has been the job of the eldest son in my family for many generations. All of these people are magical. Those are magical birds. Please sit and listen calmly. All will be explained."

I explained the role of the Mother and her Muse. Odin explained the sacred and self-abnegating nature of Questing. He explained that he was from another world, had lived thousands of years, possessed very strong magic, had traveled to our world many times in the distant past and had, in fact, been revered as Zeus. He said he had designed and led the construction of the magical circle, almost beneath our feet.

I could tell that Androcles and, especially his wife, did not believe much of what we had told them. They had to accept that we had strange powers, since we performed magic in front of them: lifting objects, creating corporeal patronuses, even doing a bit of simple transfiguration of their furniture. Perhaps they were not so much disbelieving as utterly terrified.

"Let us show you the cavern and circle," I suggested, holding out my hands to them. Barb and Odin grabbed their other hands and Hermione completed the chain. "You are going to feel a churning in your stomach," I warned. "It will only last about a second, and then you will be in the magical cavern. We may appear a foot or more off the ground and even tilted, so try not to twist an ankle. The person to your side will steady you. Okay, on three - one, two, three, go!"

I did very well Apparating us. Our circle was flat and the highest person was just a foot off the ground. More important - no splinches.

They were impressed by the circle and the cavern, but I'm certain what really sealed the deal was seeing Elves, Goblins, talking Acromantula spiders, two Centaurs, and a Unicorn. They stared, mouths open, and then seated themselves, clinging to each other's nearest hand. "I believe you. I'm willing to answer your questions. I am the Keeper of the Shrine and this probably is the biggest part of the shrine. What do you want me to tell you."

"You're the Keeper of the Shrine. What does that mean? What do you do? How long has your family done this. We also are Keepers of the circles in Britain, but your role must be different, if you've never seen this cavern before."

"Yes. My father told me - we are all trained by the prior Keeper - that he thought a lot of what must be done and the knowledge and skill to do it was lost over the centuries. My family has had this sacred duty as long as family history and tradition are remembered - certainly for many, many centuries. We Keepers have been mostly male, but when there wasn't a son, there was a female Keeper. When there were no children, and this has happened, the title shifted to another part of the family, a sibling and his children. This is where a lot of memory was lost. Some Keepers who lacked children remarried young women in an effort to continue their line. For a Keeper not to have children to assume the title was considered most shameful. Some Keepers only trained their eldest son, so that when that son failed to have children until late in life, he often was very slow to train his brother or his brother's son. Much of our lore is written down, but much is oral and when a sonless Keeper was laggard in training a successor, oral lore was lost. Protecting the written records and passing on the oral lore are the biggest part of the Keeper's duty.

"We also know a little magic, which is used to protect the entrance to the shrine I will show you. It is protected by a false magical floor. As I tried to do with you, a Keeper must guard this ground and keep adventurers at bay. You are the fourth group or individual I have been required to confront. That is the dangerous part of being Keeper. You attacked me, but didn't harm me. That hasn't always been the case."

That last comment piqued Hermione's interest. "I'm going to show you some pictures of individuals we've had, umm... let's just say difficulties, with. Do you recognize any of them?"

I was interested to see which pictures Hermione would choose and watched intently as she laid them out: Voldemort, Umbridge, the former Lord Montaigne, Bruce, Narcissa Malfoy, Lucius, Vili, Frijjo, Gna, Miomor, Draco, Rowle, Thicknesse, Barty. I wondered how she had acquired some of those pictures.

"Those two came together." He pointed at Frijjo and Gna. "I think I succeeded in protecting the shrine. They clearly stunned me and I must have told them a little. They found the trapdoor and stole what I salted there. I probably told them where to find that. I can't remember. It was false and it was worthless. It could only mislead them to believe I protected nothing of value. I don't recognize the others... now wait - him." He pointed at Thicknesse and then at Barty, as soon as Hermione put their pictures in front of him. "I think it was probably a good thing I didn't have time to fetch my gun. My wife and I were walking the grounds when they approached and we convinced them that there was nothing of importance here. We served them lunch, let them stroll around, even managed to show them the shed, when they asked how I farmed such a large area. I still had the goats back then."

When we Apparated us back to their home, they served us lunch and then showed us what lay beneath the trap door. There were several ancient-looking paper scrolls and a gold medallion. Significantly, the only other item in this hiding place was a wand. "A magical person from your part of the world would expect to find a wand, wouldn't they? We don't use them, never have. Now for the real secrets..." He went to the work bench at the end of the shed and picked up a largish and obviously severely worn whetstone, which must have sharpened multiple generations' farm implements. "It's magicked. Just watch."

He proceeded to scrub away the false bottom of his hiding place, rubbing the unworn side of the whetstone in broad swipes. The solid stone of the floor vanished. Out of curiosity, I halted him just before he completed his task. I tried both my Keeper ring and the copied Vanir pendant as scrubbing tools. Both worked. I found that most interesting and continued to wonder at the universality of the Keeper ring I had made for myself, using my Light Guardian knowledge.

We had to use battery-powered lights to light our way down the ladder to the space below. "Electricity in a shed like this, let alone getting it through the floor, would be a dead giveaway. Also couldn't have torches on the property - too many questions."

The room beneath the floor was only seven foot square, so only 2 of us, plus Androcles could fit comfortably. The center of the room held a wood covered dry well, two feet across, with stone walls built two feet high around it. As Androcles removed the cover and shone his light down the well, I could tell it was at least twenty feet deep and curved off the west at the bottom. This was encouraging, because the cavern lay to the west of us. We would return with other magical creatures small enough to explore this. There were narrow shelves at one end of the room. I recognized what seemed to be a quite primitive force viewer and what looked like copies of the ancient Goblin circle-tuning tools. I pointed at them, drawing the comment "they've been in the family forever. Father didn't know the purpose of most of them, other than the viewer. I do use that."

I left the scrolls for Hermione. She was down in the little room for a long time. I knew she was taking many pictures and reading what interested her most. When we left, I promised Androcles that he could help us re-tune the circle and assume the proper duties of Keeper. I Apparated Aagog, Catta, and Tendra to the shed. They made other trips of their own. After three days, the shaft was cleared and Tendra announced that the construction of the shaft was clearly Goblin, although the subterranean room had been built by humans.

Viktor and Cho joined us, with a half dozen trusted Durmstrang students and an auror, for the construction of the modern circle and for the tuning of the dual circles. The tuning was a little new and tricky for all of us. We kept the old and modern Hogwarts circles in fine tune and understood the problems of side-by-side circles, but this was the first tuning of a very ancient Odin-designed stone circle next to a modern. Once we got past a few errors caused by wrong guesses about how Odin's stone circle would change things, we finally completed the task with ease. Androcles had participated in the tuning, and we had explained everything step-by-step, using our shared rest times to explain the circles ourselves. Hermione left him with a detailed set of written instructions. I had a worry. "We didn't see any sign of children at your house. Who will carry on as Keeper after you are no longer able to do the work?"

"I have a married son, who lives and works in Athens. He has a son. I promise to train both of them. Don't worry, I know the perils of waiting too long. My son is already versed in the secrets of the shed."

"Sorry, I didn't know. We should have included your son in this project."

"No. It is proper that you didn't. That is my most important job of Keeper. You did your part in training me. I must train him. That will make me a true Keeper."

There was a completion ceremony inside the cavern. The cavern gleamed and was brightly lit. Tendra had recruited additional Goblin artisans to fully restore the cavern to its past glory. While this was a very powerful twin circle and a rediscovered sacred place for the Greeks, I realized that it had also become a new sacred place for the Goblins. The circles and their cavern were ready for their distinguished guests. Aristotle Archimedes hosted on behalf of the Greek community, Odin strutted, King Gobbledegook was his normal loquacious self, happily congratulating all of the Goblins who had helped on the project and discoursing on the technical skill of the ancient Goblins. Hermione, Androcles, and I were proud hosts. Tendra delighted in showing every little detail of this new treasure to her father. Harry, Mum, Dad, and Percy attended. After considerable discussion and dispute, we invited ICW Secretary Afshar. The Secretary was very pleased with the quality of restored magic in Greece. "This will also be of immense help to the surrounding nations. These are extremely powerful circles. I thank you for your efforts. Greece was once a place of great magic and I predict that it will be once again. Please help Mr. Tsieh. China also was once a land of great magic. I know that Mr. Tsieh tends to be very abrupt and pushy, but his people really are in great need."

Odin pronounced the Greek leg of our Quest "a great success! You helped a formerly great magical people and gave me the chance to rummage around in my own largely-forgotten past. I thank you for that. I have learned that you do still have important work to do on your own world. This was safe, productive, and... joyful."

The real celebration party was a feast back at Phaedra's home on Lesbos. It was a wonderful party, with great food, music, and dancing. Harry danced with me. We danced a lot. That was very un-Harry. We shouldn't have invited the Secretary. He lobbied Odin to make China a Quest stop. I could tell that Odin was wavering.


	49. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49 – China or France?**

Harry pulled Hermione, Ron, Barb, and me into a quick discussion with Secretary Afshar. "We've been over all of this before," Harry almost scolded the Secretary. "We all gave you our reasons why we believe it unwise for the Questers to build or repair a magical circle in China – even an old-style stone circle. What has changed since then?"

"Nothing, other than Mr. Tsieh's growing impatience and irritation. It would be unwise to make an enemy of him. He holds a permanent seat on our governing Council. He is not without influence. You know that the people on other worlds, whom you have tried to help, haven't always acted kindly towards us and feel no particular loyalty to you as a result of your help. Why won't you help other magical people on your own world?"

"We have; we will. We intend to improve the malfunctioning circle in France as our next stop."

"And is China less worthy than France. At least France has a poorly functioning circle. China's circle doesn't function at all. Do you see Asians as less worthy than Europeans?

"I see Mr. Tsieh as far less friendly. Monsieur Delacour never demanded that Hermione and I walk to our deaths."

"But other French Wizards did invade Britain."

"And we fought those particular French Wizards. We beat them. The present French Wizarding government is our ally. So is the Durmstrang government."

"I warn you again: you risk making an enemy of Mr. Tsieh. You move very close to that point. You are obstinate and selfish, and I fear more than a little racist."

"How can one make an enemy of a Wizard who has already proven himself an enemy in word and deed?" Harry replied. "There is no benefit and much danger in our agreeing to Mr. Tsieh's proposal. His government was one of those who conspired with our pure-blood Wizengamot minority to press phony ISS charges against our government. He practically ordered my wife and Hermione to walk to their deaths. He is no friend and none of us are inclined to do favours for him. The British government sees him as the committed servant and official of a dangerous government. We don't want that government to know our secrets."

"You said that China is one of the points which is easily accessible from other worlds. It is in all our interests if they can protect themselves. They will also be protecting us."

"Or conspiring with our enemies. Apparate to Britain and we can discuss this further. It is time for us to return home."

"You'll have to side-Apparate me. I've never been to Britain."

"And doesn't that say an awful lot, none of it good, about you and the ICW? I'll bet you have visited China."

"No, it says that the ICW refused to cooperate with Voldemort and Thicknesse or the other puppet Voldemort-favoring governments. It says that Britain has held back from the ICW and shirked its responsibilities to other magical societies. If you aren't careful, you will make enough enemies in the ICW that they will join to bring you to heel. You are as arrogant as Voldemort. And yes, in my official capacity I have visited China as the guest of Mr. Tsieh. I was very well treated. We at the ICW are the rightful leaders of all magical peoples."

"In your own minds! Are you coming? We're leaving."

He grabbed Harry's hand. Harry nodded to Barb. We all joined hands in a circle. I wondered where Barb would take us. What would Harry permit the Secretary to see. What location could he be allowed to Apparate to in future, if the Secretary were capable of this long an Apparate. After several seconds of churn, I was quite surprised to see where we were - the backyard of our all-but-abandoned, no-longer-very-secret house in nonmagical Britain. I was headed to the back door, but Barb halted me and went up to the door. She knocked, rather than simply unlocking the door and entering. Her wand was drawn. So was mine. After a minute, the door opened and I saw the face of a young auror, whom I barely remembered seeing once. This was as big a surprise as was Harry choosing to bring us here. Why was our abandoned refuge home under auror protection?

"I wanted to see if Mrs. Toms had assigned a spy to watch the place, or even whether the friends across the pond or the Death Eaters were on to and staking out this house. The aurors have seen nobody and Wilbert here has been living in the house full time," my husband quickly answered that unspoken question.

Barb led us all into the sitting room, while Wilbert prepared tea. Even before the tea arrived, Ron asked in a somewhat belligerent tone "now, explain in detail why it's in our interest for the Questers to risk their lives giving a new weapon to the Chinese, after Tsieh has shown such hostility toward my sister."

"I readily admit that Mr. Tsieh made a very bad first impression upon all of you. You shouldn't blame him for China's participation in the phoney ICW investigation. The man who claimed to represent China was an imposter, who didn't even give you his real name or home monastery. He is on the far fringe of the Chinese Wizarding community. The Chinese government views him as an outlaw. He is in hiding at a small, abandoned monastery in Tibet - but you already knew all of that."

"It has become obvious to us that nonmagical governments can use magicals as spies and assassins. We have refused to play that game. Living in China, Mr. Tsieh will have no choice but to play that game. Britain will inevitably be damaged. Which means our community will be in the greatest peril. We won't build a circle in China. We won't fix a circle in China. What you ask would reduce magical people from free people to captive weapons of war. It would be the greatest disservice to all magical communities."

"If you want me to validate your fears, I willingly do. But... there is the alternate fear of the full revelation of the existence of magical communities to the entire world. That will lead to real Witch-hunts. Your Muggle government is sympathetic to you now, but that can change. Many governments around the world will be decidedly unsympathetic. Many magical peoples will be slaughtered. That's why I oppose the proposal that you and Tony made to the ICW. Your proposal was at least somewhat measured. It allows for a gradual integration of ourselves with the larger world. There is a greater threat.

"Mr. Tsieh is desperate. He feels his influence within the Chinese government waning and sees nobody else able to make the case for his people. He feels that your community, as well as French and German Wizards, have already brought so much attention to yourselves that the government of China is already searching for magicals. That government has many spies. They know of the American's interest in your activities. They are analysing the same information that the Americans did and haven't fallen for your governments' ruses. They are convinced magic is real. Why wouldn't they be. As I said, China has a rich and ancient tradition of magic. Dragons originated in China.

"Mr. Tsieh believes that without access to the greater magic that a modern and rebuilt circle pair will provide - yes, he knows that this is what Britain has - his community will be defenceless. It won't be able to hide as well as if magic were strong. They will be found, and they will be slaughtered. He gave me an ultimatum: either your government agrees to order the Questers to China to build dual circles, or he will reveal everything. He gives you one week to decide.

"That would be disaster and I know he will carry out his threat. He views your administration and the Questers as fully responsible for creating the peril his community is in. He demands that you do the right thing."

"The right and totally lawful thing to do would be to kill Mr. Tsieh," Ron spat with the energy of total fury. "I will not be threatened by that man and I will not allow him to command my sister into danger. It is exactly this sort of situation for which our laws allow aurors to use the Avada Kedavra at their personal discretion."

"Do you know what you are saying? You threaten war against another magical community! It is important that all of the magical communities cooperate and maintain friendly relations."

"He and his community have never had friendly relations with us. They have acted as enemies. Now he issues what he views as a deadly threat. I know he's afraid. But what he fears isn't a threat. He's the threat. To my sister and to my community. If I can remove that threat, I will."

"I think you should at least meet with Mr. Tsieh. Perhaps, even without building a modern circle or setting foot in or under China, there are things that you and British Wizards can do to make the magical people of China safer. Say you'll do it! He can come here. I can Apparate him from the WCF headquarters. He can get to us. He often works with the Chinese Embassy staff in Tel Aviv and visits government offices in Jerusalem. Is here really the best place to meet? I'm sure this is a nice hide-away for you, but it is hardly suitable for hosting an important diplomatic meeting. I know you brought me here, because you wish to limit the spots to which I can Apparate. Interesting that you regard the safety of your personal retreat as more easily sacrificed than access to your, I'm sure very heavily defended, Ministry. But, your choice. If you want to present yourself to the representative of the great Chinese civilisation as a bumpkin who lives in a small rural cottage, who am I to object."

"I am uninterested in what Mr. Tsieh thinks of my living conditions. This is a calming spot. The backyard faces directly upon a small wood. You are correct that I don't want to give Mr. Tsieh Apparation access to more appropriate meeting spots. Frankly, I also don't want to be seen with him. The British government regards him as a likely spy, who formerly was a police official implicated in oppression of local workers. They have a very poor opinion of him. They allowed me to read his file. I fully understand their negative view of him. This yard is also sufficiently secluded that I can invite representatives of some of the other communities of thinking magical beings, if that would be of interest."

I was a little surprised when the Secretary responded "I most certainly would like that. The ICW needs a dialogue with the other intelligence magical peoples. Could you summon leaders or diplomats of those peoples?"

Several each of Elves and Goblins from the sanctuaries, as well as Cotto and King Gobbledygook appeared within five minutes. Harry must have used the Black Stone. The Secretary got along remarkably well with the Elves and Goblins. He made progress in selling his key point, as his "in this stressful time, isn't the most important thing that all intelligent magical beings simply get along, working together and helping each other," was later mimicked almost word for word by King Gobbledygook. It was agreed that we would all speak with Mr. Tsieh and his assistant. The Secretary would return to Jerusalem and fetch them.

Harry took the opportunity to summon additional aurors, including Director Shacklebolt. The Director ordered up two wand arrays, which were secreted out of sight, but commanded excellent views of the backyard. I had used the Stone to invite Captain Davies to represent the British government and suggested that she might want to add several of her soldiers to our defensive position. I reminded everyone to set their defensive charms on maximum. Ron reminded us that escape was to the pyramid if needed, with Shacklebolt's borrowed estate as fallback. Captain Davies arrived with three soldiers, whom she dispatched to the roof of our house. My gut told me that we were not over-reacting. I had no idea exactly what caused me to take such extreme precautions.

King Gobbledygook expressed skepticism with all of these precautions: "this could look like great treachery, as if you invite guests only to murder them. That is not good diplomacy. You must have trust. At least keep them hidden. I will say no more of this."

I felt the fool, when Secretary Afshar arrived fifteen minutes later with Mr. Tsieh and his two aides, Mr. Chu and Madam Chen. We introduced the leaders of the other communities, describing Captain Davies as the British government's representative on the Quest team. We exchanged greetings with the assistants, then Mr. Tsieh got right to the major issue. "We need a circle. Are you willing to build one of your modern circles teamed with our ancient stone circle?"

"It will take a lot of convincing to get our agreement to do that," Harry responded."

"That is most unfortunate. If you feel it is too great a risk to provide a dual circle or a stand-alone modern circle, then simply getting our old stone circle in working order will improve our present situation considerably. If you are afraid to come to China, I'm certain we can repair our circle ourselves, but we will need detailed instructions from you, as well as the borrowed use of some of the tools you use to tune circles. Is that satisfactory?"

"We can certainly do that," I told him. "Do you have a viewer to visualise the lines of magical force?"

"No. You'll have to give us one and show us how to use it."

"We can certainly do that," I assured him.

"See," Secretary Afshar beamed. "It isn't that hard to begin to cooperate, is it?"

"I guess not." Hermione reached into her bag to grab a viewer. She started to explain how it worked, but Mr. Tsieh stopped her. "I'm not the one who will be using it. I'm an administrator and a diplomat, not a technical person. I'll send Madam Chen back to Jerusalem to bring our technical team."

Hermione reluctantly lay the viewer on the table. We waited.

Ten technical people appeared in the far corner of our lawn. They all had guns. Mr. Tsieh grabbed me, placing a knife blade to my throat.

"You will get your wife back, when our circle is finished," he told Harry.

I used a silent "Off!" Calling for everyone to take cover on the ground. The technical people started shooting as we dove for the ground. Hermione and I prepared to fire an "Exterminate!" from the ground. There was no need, Captain Davies troops were firing from our roof and all the technical people were lying on the ground. Most weren't moving, but aurors were cursing them for good measure.

"Treat those that are still alive," Shacklebolt ordered. He dispatched an auror to bring back Doctor Wright and an assistant.

"Nice negotiating technique," Ron snarled at Secretary Afshar. "We'll keep Mr. Tsieh."

"I swear, I had no idea that was going to happen," Secretary Afshar pleaded.

"No, you didn't think we could repulse that attack," Harry replied. "You were Mr. Tsieh's advocate and agent. You must have at least suspected he was planning something like that."

"I am not his agent. I merely encouraged you to help a weaker and very endangered magical community. Mr. Tsieh was more desperate than I realized. Are you also going to hold me? Is Mr. Tsieh dead."

Harry placed a hand on his shoulder. "You are free to go. Mr. Tsieh is alive. He is also our prisoner. We will turn him and his dead soldiers over to the British government. This was a failed invasion of Britain."

"That's absurd. This was a foolish attempt to gain help by a desperate man who feared for the survival of his community. To involve the Muggles will violate the ISS. You may not do that!"

"Given what has just happened, you are in a very poor position to tell us what we may not do to protect ourselves."

"How does turning these prisoners and bodies over to the Muggle government help you to protect yourselves? That makes no sense."

"Because, I think we all suspect those men to be members of the Chinese military," Captain Davies answered for us. "We must determine whether or not that is the case. It is a very serious problem for our government, if it is the case. Would it be out of place for me to request that Ron fetch Mrs. Toms."?

"No, I support that," Harry answered immediately. "We will learn much more when we question Mr. Tsieh and his assistants."

"You wouldn't dare use an Unforgiveable Curse on a delegate to the ISM," Secretary Afshar looked truly shocked.

"Of course not. We have other means. We are more civilized than Mr. Tsieh," I smiled at the Secretary.

Doctor Wright had arrived and was rushing over to tend to the fallen Chinese soldiers.

I asked Harry, "What happened to Mr. Tsieh's assistants?"

"They were reaching for weapons when Mr. Tsieh attacked you. Ron and I 'Off!'ed them. We'll question them separately from Mr. Tsieh."

"I insist upon being present during that questioning." Secretary Afshar's tone and posture were far less bold than his words. He seemed surprised when Harry replied, "Oh, very well," before Shacklebolt could object.

I suggested that since the Chinese 'delegation' had arrived from Jerusalem, that it made sense to include Yael and her boss, Danny, as observers when we questioned our prisoners. Harry agreed instantly and dispatched an auror to fetch them.

We were all assembled. I had also summoned Cissy. Secretary Afshar didn't know that she was a truth-teller. I assigned her to keep a close eye upon the Secretary. Hermione and I focused upon Mr. Tsieh, who had been dosed with spiked Veritaserum and was the first to be questioned. I was surprised that Harry was content to sit back and allow Danny and Mrs. Toms to ask the initial questions. It made sense. They each had detailed files on Mr. Tsieh. Still, it struck me as un-Harry behavior.

Mrs. Toms asked "explain your relationship with the Chinese communist government. We both know those were regular Chinese army soldiers."

"You know that I am a party member and was administrator of a city and then a province, before joining the diplomatic corps. You know that my main duty was spying - recruiting local agents. I tried to identify magicals and blackmail them into becoming agents for me. You must understand that my primary loyalty is to the magical people of China. I associate with the party only to be able to protect my fellow magicals. We are a tight community. I have no affection for what you call Muggles or their philosophies and political intrigues. Yes, the soldiers I brought are members of the People's Army, but they are also magicals. I went to great risk and effort to assemble them as a group under my personal control. I have discretion as an active spy-diplomat."

He had no spies in Britain. This was not an invasion of Britain. It was a simple kidnapping to gain leverage to get a much-needed circle for his people. He would not have harmed me. He reiterated this last point. "I absolutely would not have harmed you. I don't believe magical peoples should fight among themselves. I needed a dual circle. You left me no other choice. I assure you; this was not done to help the Chinese government. I desperately want to keep my magic secret and my people hidden. You risked that with your all-too-public actions. You needed to make up for that. It was only fair."

Danny questioned him about his spying in Jerusalem. He had four spies. All but one was magical. He summarised the reports he had sent back to China. Some quite important technical and commercial information had been stolen. The plans for an American weapon had also been pilfered. He told us nothing else of value. Secretary Afshar told Mr. Tsieh that he was "extremely disappointed" by his actions and that he would no longer be welcome at the ICW.

The interviews of the two aides and one wounded soldier, who was able to be questioned, yielded nothing of significance. The soldiers had been secretly Apparated to a house in Jerusalem, where Madame Chen lived.

What to do with them? That question occupied us for a while. The Israeli government could charge Mr. Tsieh with spying and expel him from the country, along with his two aides. The spies he had recruited would be arrested. The soldiers were a stickier issue. They weren't even known to be in Israel, including the Chinese government having no knowledge of their presence there. Mr. Tsieh would have some explaining to do, when they were missed. He must operate with a lot of autonomy for the soldiers not to have already been missed. I had detected no lies when he was questioned but spiriting ten soldiers out of China suggested that he had more power in the government than he admitted. I would think on that. We could not repatriate all the soldiers. Seven were dead. Two were injured. The tenth was lucky to have been only cursed, rather than being shot. There was no way to avoid Mr. Tsieh having to explain himself back home. That was his problem, but if enhanced questioning caused him to spill his secrets, it would also be our problem.

Shacklebolt thought of this at the same time I did. "We can't just send Mr. Tsieh home. He lost soldiers, who were never supposed to be outside China. He will be questioned hard and we must assume that he will talk. That puts us in a bad position."

Danny had a solution. "Perhaps it's best if he is seen to have defected, along with his aides and three of his soldiers. They could have killed the other soldiers. We can keep them sequestered, if there is a way to un-magic them. If they just Apparated away, the consequences could be serious."

**Don't worry. Anti-Apparation barriers have been in place since just before our spells were reversed. They aren't going to escape from here."**

That was Shacklebolt. It was timely. Mr. Tsieh's look of frustration confirmed that he had tried to Apparate and had failed. In response to Harry's challenge, he confirmed as much.

Mr. Tsieh was very nervous. "I can't defect. That would be very bad for my people. You don't know how much worse it is that my government think I led some of its soldiers to shoot other soldiers, on foreign soil, so that we could defect. It won't be public, but there will be an extremely serious investigation. Everyone I know will be harshly interrogated. It will be brutal. The same for family and friends of my aides and the defecting soldiers. Detection of our magical community would be a certainty. The community would be wiped out."

"Well, you attacked us. That's what put you in this mess. What do you suggest?" That was Harry and he didn't seem in a mood to accept any crap. Really, he was in a Ron mood.

"I'm willing to take an Unbreakable Vow."

"Not good enough. You'd still spill your guts. You'd die the next day, but that doesn't help."

"I don't know. You have many spells you can use. I don't understand many of them. I just know that the best solution is to find a way for us to go home. I've heard of the Imperius curse. Would that work."

"If we did that, Secretary Afshar would hold it over our heads forever. No, it's not possible."

"Special circumstances. I'll authorise you to use it."

"Our Wizengamot could still act against us in future."

"I'll Imperius him, myself. You can Confund him first. We can do it with all of them."

"That might work. We could also Obliviate them, but it would be difficult to pick out what must be Obliviated and what must not. They are going to have to seem normal when they return to China. I still don't see how this solves the problem of the soldiers having left China and seven of them being dead." With Harry's approval, I'll task Wood to start working on this."

Harry blessed that plan.

"You don't have a lot of time. We'll be missed if we don't return to Jerusalem. This was supposed to be a quick operation and return with Ginny."

I could tell that he spoke the truth. At least one confederate waited for him back at the embassy."

Harry sent for more aurors who specialised in Obliviation. He tasked the rest of us with coming up with a plausible story, which would allow Mr. Tsieh to be sent home with his aides. The soldiers were the key. The rest was simple. Mr. Tsieh and the aides had stolen commercial secrets. They had given those secrets to their government. That part was solid. It was reasonable that they had finally been caught at this. The soldiers could not go home for several days. Magical healing is very good, but some of their injuries had been extreme. They couldn't be healed in an hour or even a single day or two. And the dead soldiers were dead.

"Inferi?" Harry suggested. "They could be observed in China. They could then be lost at sea, or something like that."

"Their dull, white eyes would give them away," Shacklebolt objected.

"Large contact lenses can fix that," Mrs. Toms countered. "They'll have to lose the lenses, before the bodies are recovered. The Chinese use different munitions than our soldiers. You'll need to replace the bullets in their wounds. It can work. It can also easily fail, but it can work. Our soldiers can fire the Chinese weapons at sheep and pigs. You need some bullets that hit bone and some that don't. They look different. If the Chinese look closely, and I think they will, they will be able to tell the difference. It should help that the bodies are fresh, shouldn't it?"

We built our plan around that and created a storyline that allowed the soldiers to be almost immediately returned to China. The inferi would almost immediately drink a lot and get into a fight with locals, injuring some of them, then making a run for it and almost being captured by the other three soldiers. They would seize a small boat and escape. The other soldiers pursue them. Gunfire exchanged. The inferi are mortally wounded and fall overboard in water deep enough to hinder recovery, wearing enough gear to sink. Shuck the lenses. Go inert. Stay in the water for at least a couple days, before being found. It might work. It had to work.

A very spelled-up Mr. Tsieh was off to Jerusalem with his aides, so that they wouldn't be missed. The story was to be that when we saw the soldiers, we all Apparated away and Mr. Tsieh Apparated to Jerusalem, before we could return with reinforcements. His soldiers hid in the woods. Mr. Tsieh would return to Apparate them back to China. He would lie low and return to Jerusalem in time to be expelled. It was too tricky a plan to work. Luckily, early results say it actually might have worked.

Part of our spell-work on Mr. Tsieh left him an ardent supporter of British Wizardry. He was now our spy in China. He would stop demanding a circle. He realised he could not keep it safe from his government. If he were ever severely questioned, newly installed protections in his mind would drop down like an impenetrable curtain. He would not know that he had ever been magical or that a magical community existed in China. He could survive and so could his community. It was possible that torture lay waiting in his future. He would be found not guilty and not magical. We all acknowledged that this possibility verged upon likely. Ron was a lot less disturbed by that possibility than I was.


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50 – France (And Durmstrang And India)**

We weren't lying to Secretary Afshar when we said that the magical circle in France was in great need of work. Progressively frequent and larger, in time and geography, diminution or even complete absence of magical force were being reported throughout much of France, Benelux, and even small portions of Germany. Monsieur Delacour's magical engineers had been unable to satisfactorily retune their circle. The Continental Goblins, who were still well behaved in the absence of Ruppasta, had done their best to help with the circle, but to no avail. We had received frantic appeals for help.

Hermione, Harry, Ron, Cissy, Odin, and I were discussing the matter with Secretary Afshar, who had Apparated himself to our no-longer-secret home in what Cissy referred to as Muggleland. We had corrected her once – she now just smiled and chuckled as she said it, as if she knew she was being slightly naughty, but regarded Muggleland as the latest in-joke. Cissy had reported at our prior meeting that Secretary Afshar had been strictly honest about his nonparticipation in Mr. Tsieh's plotting. She was here to perform that function again. It pulled her away from construction of the new hospital at Hogwarts, but she loved this sort of diversion and opportunity to join what she still viewed as an 'adventure'. I was going to say, 'albeit a very safe adventure', although her last service as truth-teller had turned out to be not very safe at all. She set her jocular mood aside when the Secretary arrived and adopted an all business demeanour. She had matured quite a lot since she had taken to tagging along with us. She no longer annoyed me.

Secretary Afshar said he had come to report that China had lost its permanent seat to Israel, with the forced withdrawal of Mr. Tsieh. Yael had already passed this information on to me. So had Percy. The real reason for the Secretary's visit quickly became apparent.

"As I'm sure you already know, India has a magical history almost as long as China's. As I'm sure you also already know, like China the Indians currently lack a functioning magical circle. Fortunately, unlike the Chinese, the Indians are willing to share the path to the cavern of their circle from the surface. So... if you agree to repair and tune their circle, you will know exactly where you are at all times and won't need to spend the whole time underground, as you were required to do in China. The Indians aren't at all picky about your being seen on the surface. Their food is every bit as tasty as China's. I know you've carried it to many of your Quest stops. So, why not a Quest stop at the source of that wondrous cuisine? If you build a strong enough circle in India, it should also improve conditions in China. Does that sound feasible?"

"It sounds possible," Harry replied. "We'd have to discuss the details with Mr. Subramanian and Ginny, Hermione, and their team would have to scout the site, but I certainly think it is possible. The Questers have a particularly thorny technical problem to solve in France, before they can work on the Indian circle, but they probably can do their scouting expedition, before they travel to France. Let me transport you to the Ministry, so that you can fetch Mr. Subramanian."

"So, I'm now permitted to visit the Ministry? What changed?"

"I know that you told the truth at our meeting with Mr. Tsieh. You've gone along with the solution to that problem. You've pleaded with us for help. Mr. Tsieh bullied us. He treated us as totally expendable Witches for him to command. We have successfully revolted against the idea of expendable Witches. We aren't going back to the old rules for what Witches can do and decide for themselves - not for anyone else's cause, even if it is a good cause. Mr. Tsieh's cause was not good. He was looking for more magical technology to trade with the Chinese government, if his magical abilities were discovered. He had an awful view of Witches."

"I'll just mention in passing that, like your own Wizarding society, Chinese Wizards are far more traditional than the larger society in which they live. Chinese women today have a broader role in society, although men still rule. Chinese Witches have less range than other Chinese women. Mr. Tsieh is a product of his time and culture. He is sixty years older than you."

We decided that it might help to scout India immediately. That would give us a better understanding of our future obligations. While Odin insisted that HE would determine the next Quest site, he did agree to come to India with us. That was fine with the Secretary. "The circle is in northern Assam state. The closest major settlement is Nabaon, but the closest town is Dobaka - that's where Mr. Subramanian lives. It is a rough, more than five mile walk from his home to the entrance of the cavern. I've been once, when I Apparated Mr. Subramanian there from ICW headquarters. It is a most exquisitely finished cavern, but both the cavern and circle are quite small. I can Apparate us directly from his house. Did you build this circle?"

That last question was directed at Odin. Odin admitted that he had nothing to do with the creation of this circle but would be most pleased to inspect it.

I'll Apparate you to Mr. Subramanian's home. Mr. Subramanian told me that he should be at home this week. He keeps a room in his house for Apparating, so we have no worry of hitting an obstacle.

Hermione insisted upon examining a map. "It's as I thought. This circle is a lot closer to China than it is to the major cities of India. This circle will do more for the magical people of China than of India. What was Mr. Tsieh playing at?"

"As I know you British Wizards care about the magic of London, Mr. Tsieh is concerned with magic in his nation's capital. Certainly not all the magicals live in that part of China. More than a few do. Mr. Tsieh and his most trusted allies do. When the rulers are feeling extraordinarily lucky and then discover the presence of magical people amongst themselves, they are likely to view those magicals with favor. If they are feeling remarkably unlucky, then they are likely to burn the Witches. It's really that simple."

Well, that explained it. I couldn't help suspecting that a lucky China would result in a less lucky Britain. I had other questions, but Secretary Afshar held out his hands and Odin had already grabbed one of them. I took Odin's other hand. Hermione had a firm hold on the Secretary and we were gone. I felt nauseated but held onto my stomach. Secretary Afshar immediately called out to Mr. Subramanian, announcing that he had brought guests.

Mr. Subramanian's wife came at once. I heard the very thick door being unlocked. "Just a moment, he's out back." She was gone, but at least we were no longer locked in.

Mr. Subramanian quickly joined us and the Secretary Apparated us into the cavern. He and Mr. Subramanian had lit torches, Hermione and I had our light bars. The Apparate was an easy trip, especially since we didn't have a large landing zone. The cavern was no bigger than the one in Jerusalem. The circle was a little smaller than the one we had built in Jerusalem but was an old-style stone circle. The design was different than any I had seen before. The lodestone at its center was simply placed on the floor and was but a foot and a half by a foot and perhaps five inches tall at its highest point. I shone my light on the circle and began an examination.

"Please wait a moment. I want to examine this circle with the Goblin's new viewer," Hermione ordered. "Please move the torches farther away, as well. Hmm, very interesting. This circle is weak, but it's operating. It might even be close to its full power. It is hardly enough to make a big difference in the magical strength within India. I don't see any imbalances. We might increase its power a bit, but I hate to destroy a working circle to replace it with a modern one."

"I agree, that would be most bad," Mr. Subramanian agreed. "The waterfall outside this cavern and the pond beneath the falls are a holy site. I knew the circle is likely what made this place holy. I hoped you could make it even holier and more magical. I don't want to change the basic character of this circle. A purple diamond in the center might help. I assumed something was broken."

"Maybe. We'll look closer, when Hermione is finished with the viewer."

"Wow! Hermione exclaimed. "There is magic coming from a spot over there." She pointed to the far wall, as she handed the viewer to me.

There was a noticeable patch of dim rose on the far wall. It was almost rectangular: four feet wide by six feet high. I knew what those dimensions might mean.

"What's the problem?" Mr. Subramanian suddenly looked worried.

I explained: "I think there might be something magical behind that wall.

Hermione stepped up to the wall and began to scrub it with her Muse ring. "Definitely a false rock barrier."

I excitedly started working beside her, using my Mother ring. I stopped to quickly ask Mr. Subramanian "Do you have any old artifact or ring, which might have been passed down to you?"

He produced a jade pendant from his pocket. I showed him how to help us scrub away the magical barrier. I expected to break through to an entry tunnel, but we soon encountered metal. It was a metal door, I think made of Odin metal. Except for the areas around the Hogwarts pyramid, none of the other caverns on our world contained such doors. This was important! It took us a while, but we completely cleared the door of the phoney stone. Now we needed to find the control panel. I aimed the viewer at the spots to the right of the door, where the top and bottom control panels would be. They weren't there. I tried scrubbing the stone where the top panel should be. It was real stone. I stepped closer and had another look through the viewer. Perhaps the builders of this door had placed the control panels on the left. No, they hadn't. The rose glow, brighter without the fake stone, was a little bulgy two-thirds of the way up on the right. I decided to scrub there, even though this area was impossibly close to the door. Its far edge was only an inch and a half beyond the metal slab of the door. I walked up to the spot to scrub away more phoney stone, but the area was already bare. I handed the viewer to Hermione, explaining what I thought I had discovered.

"You need to try using your ring against that spot. Hold it in place for about ten seconds, then try a different spot."

"Shouldn't it have opened the door, when I scrubbed that section with my ring. Wait... I think Mr. Subramanian scrubbed that area."

"I did. Please allow me to try my medallion. I scrubbed with the edge. Perhaps it needs to be laid flat. Where is the exact spot?"

Good question. I held my light bar close to the area. It showed solid rock up to the door. Some of the rock was recessed, where phoney rock had been scrubbed away. Some was the native stone. There should be a pattern. I looked closely at the pendant in Mr. Subramanian's hand. It was an oval - about an inch-and-a-half by an inch. That was the size of the pattern I sought. I thought I found a likely area where the phoney stone had been removed. If the pendant was held long-way up it just about matched the faint pattern. I pointed. "Long-way up."

Mr. Subramanian held the pendant in place for a good fifteen seconds, but nothing happened. Then a few seconds after he removed the pendant, we heard a groaning, and the grating sound of metal moving past stone and gravel. The door slowly slid into the floor. Then it stuck. It stuck with its top edge a foot above floor level. I shone my light and saw a tunnel beyond. I couldn't see the end of the tunnel. It was long and downward sloping. It also was almost the full width and height of the door. As soon as I climbed over the door and set my first food down, lights came on far away, beyond the end of the tunnel. I waved the others forward, shining my light on the ground so the others could avoid twisting an ankle of any pebbles on the floor. I saw several. The 'ground' was a dark grey stone. It was slightly crunchy underfoot. My light revealed smallish pebbles. Hermione withdrew one of her sample bottles from her jacket pocket and filled it with the pebbles.

"The actual chamber beckons," Hermione grandly announced. Odin joined me in the lead. We had a walk of several hundred feet, which ended at a wide stone stairway. I could tell from the top of the stairs that this cavern was both larger and grander than the Sacred Cavern. It also held a larger circle. It was a stone-type circle, but easily the largest I have ever seen. Although the cavern was now quite brightly lit, the walls were black. The stair steps looked like they were made of a polished blackish stone. I could tell that the cavern and its walls, apart from the circle itself and two semi-circles of stone benching, was chock-a-block with sculptures: they hung from the walls and were liberally positioned on the cavern floor, like a silent army of defenders. There were clear lanes amidst the sculptures. One ran from the stairs to the circle, while a second led directly to the stone benches, and the third seemed to circle the cavern walls.

As we walked down the stairs, I asked Odin "does this jog your memory. If you didn't build this, do you have any idea who might be the designer or how old this cavern and circle might be?

"I've seen this kind of circle before. One sat where my observatory stands. It was not ten feet from the well. It was said to have been constructed by the ancient Aesir… a design brought from Vanaheimr. I don't know how old this circle is. The one on Asgard was said to be at least twenty-two thousand of your years old. It was the only one of its kind built on Asgard. I've never seen one on Vanaheimer but was told that they once were common. Come, let me show it to you. It has no lodestone. What you see in the center is a large cube of pure iron. It is magnetized and coated with gold to keep the metal pure. The cube beside the well was almost thirteen of your feet on a side. Since its magnetism was made with electricity, not by nature, it makes a different sort of magic than you are used to. It was tunable to the needs of we Aesir. It likely works less well for your kind. I doubt it is suited to power dark magic, like the mis-tuned circle of Britain had been, but it surely would have been different. I guarantee you: an Aesir or Vanir had a hand in the building of this circle."

Odin Apparated all of us to the closest edge of the cube. I couldn't swear it was a cube, but thought Odin was not lying. If it was a cube, over two-thirds of its height was buried in the stone of the cavern. I saw the expected circle of crystals, in this case they looked like silicon at about two-and-a-half feet from the centre. They just rested on their bases. Was the silver stripped away? The rest was alien to me. There were no gems in the center, only a largish gold cup, shaped like the champagne flutes used in Shacklebolt's favorite London restaurant. This was surrounded by a small circle, about a foot farther out from the center, of eight squatter gold cups.

"Why have we all used gems in circles if gold cups work?" My question to Odin conveyed severe puzzlement. "If the silver was taken, why leave the gold behind?"

"The cups were meant to hold gems. The gems have either been stolen or hidden to prevent theft. This type of circle only uses silver and gold webbing, on the outer two circles of quartz and what should be a more solid basalt than used here. The circles atop the iron core are not connected, other than through the iron. The gold coating is excellent for that. Do you know of a cache of gems, which are sacred to your group."? Odin queried Mr. Subramanian. "Surely your family furnishes the Keepers for this circle, even if you only knew of the existence of the baby circle out there." He jerked his thumb toward the tunnel, through which we had entered this cavern.

"Yes, we are the Keepers. That's why the leader of the Indian magical community lives way out here. I must be able to walk to the circle. What modest fortune I have plays bigger here than in the bigger cities. Much knowledge must have been lost over the centuries. I thought I knew all that I needed to know. I thought that little circle was all that there was. That's why I needed Ginny to modernise it. That's past. Now all I want is for this beautiful circle to come to life."

"The rest of you should wait here and explore, while I return to England for supplies and helpers. This circle looks to be in rather good shape. I think we might be able to re-start it without a lot of work or difficulty. I'll bring silver, and gold, and a purple diamond, and some white diamonds, and rubies, and tourmalines. Our own creations, of course. Please use the camera to take lots of pictures. The silver webbing seems to be at least mostly intact. We'll need to carefully inspect it. I think the gems, which once powered this circle, have been hidden. Everything is in too good a condition for vandalism and what sort of looter leaves large chunks of gold behind? No, it's like this circle was lovingly decommissioned, so that the jewels could be brought out of hiding, whenever needed, and this circle fired up. This is sooo exciting."

'There is a bejeweled statue in a little temple, which is used by my family and several other local magical families who live nearby. The jewels are not especially large. I'll show you our family shrine, when we leave this magnificent place. I'm so glad you want to rush ahead and try to fix our circle."

For some reason, Hermione hugged me tightly. She then stepped back and vanished.

Mr. Subramanian continued to discourse upon the importance of this fine circle and cavern, its magnificence, and his utter surprise to find such a place right next to the circle he had visited at least monthly since he was twelve years old and first brought to it by his father. He walked beside me, as I made picture after picture: the iron core and its silicon and metal cups, from many angles. The outermost circle of what seemed almost to be, but wasn't quite basalt, the intermediate circle of quartzes. Knowing how distinctive a webbing design could be to an age, people, or individual circle architect, I made many, many pictures of the webbing. Odin was correct. The webbing was in excellent condition, it was gold webbing for the intermediate circle and silver webbing for the outer. The silver webbing followed what I now recognized as 'Light Guardian design'

\- this was familiar to me; it was my current go-to design approach.

Odin was off wandering among the statuary, apparently having seen all he needed to see, in order to suss out the relative age of the circle and to guess its creator. Perhaps he was merely baffled and seeking answers from the statuary. Mr. Subramanian was largely babbling now, as he followed beside me. I occasionally acknowledged a comment or asked a question, but it was hard to cut through his stream-of-consciousness babbling. At least he was happy - happier even than King Gobbledygook had been with his birthday present and Hermione's report of its scientifically dated age.

I finished with the circle and moved on to the wall, photographing each sculpture, which was hung from the wall. There were also what were obviously picture frames hanging from the walls. The paintings they once held had decayed to faintly colored scraps of fabric. The frames themselves were not in great shape. I had learned enough from Hermione to know that these frames were precious. They were the only wood I had seen in the cavern. I knew they would be transported to Uncle Reg for dating.

I had almost forgotten Secretary Afshar, who had been trailing behind Mr. Subramanian and me, until he loudly commented. "this certainly is all most fascinating, wouldn't you agree? So much to study and learn. There clearly was once a very sophisticated magical technology outside Europe. I wonder what the Chinese circle is like. Could it possibly be more fantastic than this one? Could there even be a subterranean lair for a species of dragon which is unknown to you? Questions abound."

"I do wonder that. I also wonder if there is a great trap, ready to be sprung with us in it." I said that, almost without thinking, then worried that I might have sparked another fight with the Secretary. That didn't happen, largely because Hermione led a team of about twenty out of the tunnel from the cavern of the little circle.

Harry was in the party, with Barb, Wood, Bill, Shacklebolt, and two Ministry magical engineers. Tendra, Catta, Aagog, Boldgog, Cho, Ron, and a half dozen Hogwarts students, including Mona and Cissy, followed them, as did Captain Davies. They weren't speaking, although Harry did hug me. They seemed awestruck. The first to speak was Tendra, who confirmed my own opinion that Goblins had not been involved with the construction of this circle. Hermione demanded a report on the status of the circle.

"Surprisingly the webbing and the crystals are all in remarkably good shape. We should probably just add the gems you brought and see whether this circle is willing to be restarted. If it is, then Ron's students can draw the force lines they see through this most excellent Goblin viewer and we can plan how to tune the circle."

"Excellent! I brought a purple diamond for the center and rubies for the surrounding gems. Perhaps Mr. Subramanian would like to do the honours."

As Harry hugged and snogged me, he whispered: **Viktor and Monsieur Delacour are anxiously awaiting our help to solve the problem with their circles. Magic is becoming spottier in their lands. They are doing measurements in wide-spread locations, several hours apart, and mapping them. I think it will take them several hours to finish, but we should be home within four hours.**

I told Harry that I totally agreed.

Mr. Subramanian also totally agreed with Hermione's suggestion that he add the gems. Hermione and I Apparated him atop the lodestone and Hermione handed him the purple diamond and the bag of rubies. The Secretary popped in beside us to take a picture of Mr. Subramanian placing the diamond in its position of honour. We Apparated back to the floor of the cavern, outside the outer ring of sort-of basalts. Hermione pulled out her 'proper' copy of the Vanir amulet. She handed it to Mr. Subramanian, telling him "you have to push right here, on the small purple diamond in the center."

Mr. Subramanian did exactly that, as the Secretary made another picture, speaking loudly "isn't cooperation among the different magical communities a truly wonderful thing."

"It certainly can be," I replied with some genuine enthusiasm. I was very happy to have been able to help Mr. Subramanian, but still unconvinced about traveling to China, without being able to travel to the surface and learn the entry point to their cavern.

I could feel the building surge of magical energy. It was every bit as strong as I had felt when standing this close to one of our own modern purple diamond circles. The circle seemed remarkably stable. The surge of power would jolt my mind, if the circle were severely unbalanced. The magical energy seemed suitable to my personal needs and preference. I'd tune it a little differently, but it was every bit as comfortable as the magical energy on Asgard and a tad better than Vanaheimer. We had a quick caucus. I wanted to continue examining and making pictures of the sculptures. Then I thought Hermione and I should return to Hogwarts with Harry. Ron and his students, along with Cissy, Barb, and the other Questers would remain to study the circle and make suitable drawings. I assumed Cho would come home with us, but she chose to stay. "This is most interesting and Durmstrang will be well represented at your meeting by Viktor."

Hermione and Odin accompanied me on the tour of the sculptures. Odin led us, starting at the point on the wall where I had begun. He beckoned Harry to join us, admonishing him "it isn't often you can get an art tour from Odin." Mr. Subramanian also joined us, so the Secretary also chose to come with. I pointed at the first several sculptures, telling Odin I had no idea what they intended to depict. "They are not strictly representational. This is an abstract style, which was very popular with the ancients - long before my time. We still have examples of this sort of art on Asgard. Pardon my dereliction, I should have shown you our museums. I will make up for that error on your next visit to my world. Everything has always been so very busy, whenever we've been together.

I directed Hermione's attention to the empty picture frames. She solicited Mr. Subramanian's permission to take samples from several of them, apologising for damaging more than one, with the explanation that she had no way of knowing they were the same age. As we moved around a room, she took samples of both the wood and the remnants of what the frames had held. She sampled from five sites, depositing each sample into its own jar. "Of course, I will let you know the results of Uncle Reg's dating. Knowing when might help us to understand why and by whom."

The sculptures were largely metal and stone and depicted primarily people and animals. Odin identified most of the people as "Aesir or Vanir", but said of one "Veneran" and of two others "people from your world". We saw dragons and Unicorns, Goblins, Centaurs, and Trolls. There were no depictions of Elves. However, there were several ravens, a phoenix, one of the sorts of grazing animal found near Odin's palace, and two of the grazing animals I had seen near Village Vana. There also were several animals, which I didn't recognise. Odin identified one as the standard farm and meat and milk animal on Venera. Even Odin was unable to identify the other two. A hollow, surprisingly wispy looking statue was immediately pounced upon by Odin. "I didn't see this one on my initial tour. This is how the ancients thought they would look, once they had shed their bodies and become pure spirit. I have a picture of this in one of the manuscripts in my library. There is no statue like this on Asgard."

We found one statue made from wood. It was very heavily painted, which may have been the secret to its survival in such good condition. Mr. Subramanian allowed Hermione to take "as very small a sample as can give you an accurate date."

Hermione took two very small samples from different parts of the bottom, since she thought she detected two separate pieces of wood. We all congratulated each other for the wondrous discoveries of the day and the actual restarting of the circle. Hugs all around and then we Apparated back to Hogwarts.

Viktor greeted us as soon as we arrived. "We've plotted the weakness in magic. The southeast of France is having trouble. The magical community on Sicily is having even more trouble. Magic is almost dead there. Southern Germany is fine, but northern Germany, as well as the areas of central Europe, where our magical friends live, are mainly hurting. There are a few spots where magic is stronger, but five of seven communities we checked are hurting. It seems like interference from the other circles. Have you done anything to strengthen the circles in Britain?"

"No! We absolutely have not. You know that we have an agreement to coordinate such matters. You are right that the pattern you report looks like interference between circles. We saw the same in London, with the Gringotts circle and the original Goblin circle and then with the circle at the Ministry, which must be run at very low power. The problem on Sicily and in the south of France could be caused by the new circle in Greece. We can try to lower the power of the Greek circle by... let's try a fifth. That should have nothing to do with the problems in the north."

"I know, Ginny. I had to ask. I certainly wasn't accusing you of anything. I'd like you and Hermione to check the circles in France and at Durmstrang. See if you can tune them better than we have done."

Of course, I agreed to help. I was tired, but the need was clear. I just asked that we be Apparated, rather than Apparating ourselves. That was less of a drain on Hermione's and my energy and I feared that it would be another twelve hours until we crawled into bed. "Durmstrang first, I think."

I sent a stone message to Phaedra to reduce the power of the Greek circle and asked Monsieur Delacour to have his people replot the magical strength measurements for the south, while Hermione and I were at the Durmstrang circle. The circle was in great shape. We quickly replaced two calcite crystals with superior versions from our Witch sculpting inventory. The old purple diamond was replaced with one containing the proper silver micro-wiring. We tweaked the silver webbing around the calcites. The slight leakage, we had seen in the viewer when we arrived, was corrected. The magical energy was a purer light energy with no detectable dark component. We adjusted the buffers above the quartz in the ceiling, sending a larger fraction of the circle's output to the east and north. That might help the areas with newly poor magic and would lessen the opportunity for interference between the circles in France and at Durmstrang. We left the Durmstrang circle radiating close to a tenth more magical energy in total and almost a quarter more going to the east. Our work was done. It was off to France.

Same approach in France, although this time we were able to eliminate the small fraction of dark magical energy, which we detected on our initial viewing. Less magical force directed to the east. More north and south. A fifth more power in total. I congratulated the team on a job well done and done very quickly. It was extremely fast for improving two circles, but it had still taken twenty hours and I felt completely beat. Still, we had to return to the Hogwarts cavern to check on the replotted magical strengths to determine if our improvements had made any practical difference.

I knew that the results were less than ideal as Monsieur Delacour shook his head in the negative direction as soon as he saw us. "The south of France and Sicily are much improved. The north is no better. In fact, it's a little worse. Of course, it wasn't uniformly worse. Ten test sites: five worse, three the same, two better."

"The classic sign of interference between circles," I summarised. "But we don't have a circle which could cause this pattern of interference. Conclusion: somebody else has a circle. It is to the north of both the French and Durmstrang circles. It likely was created for the purpose of mischief. We must find the renegade circle, if we are to solve your problems. The pattern of interference says that the new circle is here." I drew a circle. Admittedly, 'here' covered quite a large area. I made no apologies. The available data did not allow me to be more precise. Both Hermione and Odin supported my conclusion.

Harry took charge from there. "Each of us must task a team of aurors, equipped with magical force detectors, to overfly these areas and try to find the magical source. It's mid-afternoon. That task will have to wait until night. This must be a top-secret mission. Teams of a half dozen aurors. Two aurors to search for signs of magic and four aurors to protect them from attack. Someone is being deliberately hostile and will expect us to launch aerial patrols. Three search teams and three other teams of six to swoop in and catch attackers by surprise. Please make it happen. I'm going to get Hermione and my wife home to bed, or they will be no help to any of us.


	51. Chapter 51

**Chapter 51 – Norway**

Some of the ancient priestesses used a spell which enabled them to turn off their brains and to virtually hibernate for a fixed period. When used to barely maintain life, when food was exhausted and wood for fire had all been consumed, they might hibernate for several weeks. They emerged from their sleep very well rested and having dropped only a few pounds of weight. Hermione and I had adapted this spell to get an extra-deep sleep when we had been forced to keep working past the limits of normal endurance. I reached for this tool, telling Harry what I was doing and warning him not to expect to see a waking me for fifteen hours. The problem with this tool is that it left one almost completely vulnerable to a surprise attack. I wouldn't have considered using it in my present condition of only mild extremis, had I not had Harry to protect my sleeping self. I gave Harry a hearty snog, lay my head upon my pillow, and was lost to world.

I awoke to find myself precisely covered up to my neck by the quilt and surrounded by Shacklebolt, Viktor, Hermione, Barb, Monsieur Delacour, Bill, Doctor and Odin, in addition to my husband.

**Sorry, Hermione and I tried to wake you, and couldn't. I was worried. That's why Doctor Wright. As for the others – we've found our emergency and want to move fast.**

"We found the circle," my husband told me. "It's inside an old warehouse in Trondheim, Norway. It's a very powerful magical source. We were unable to compensate for it because its output varies drastically over a ten-minute cycle. I see no alternative but to launch an attack. We'll leave you to think about all of this, while you wash and dress. Breakfast will be ready in fifteen minutes. Bye."

I lay very still as the gang trooped out, not knowing what, if anything, I was wearing under the quilt. Just as well - as soon as I hopped out of bed, I realized that I was wearing nothing.

I moved quickly and was in the kitchen in five minutes. In addition to fearing for my health, I could sense that Harry was very worried about the presence of a new, active magical circle of unknown origin. Maybe a band of Death Eater and Grindelwald supporters had banded together to create this new threat, but that made little sense. To start, I doubted that they had the technical skill to build any circle, let alone one which constantly varied its output, in order to cause maximum havoc. No, this smelled like a threat from another world. That the other-worlders could hardly expect that their circle wouldn't be noticed and quickly found, made this seem like both an extremely provocative action and the lure to draw us into a deadly trap. I Stone messaged this feeling to Harry as I walked toward my kitchen. I was surprised to see Mrs. Toms standing in the corner, drinking from my favorite coffee mug.

**Yes, those are my fears. A threat we can't possibly ignore and almost certainly a deadly trap. Do the Vanir royals really wish to war with us?**

I responded aloud as I entered the kitchen: "Not the Vanir royals. I think we are about to have our first encounter with the Vanerans, and/or a rematch with the dark Gods.

That certainly got everyone's attention. Shacklebolt had clearly been thinking in this direction. "That's why I fear we must call on the Questers and their friends. I will certainly commit a lot of aurors, as will Viktor, but if we are to fight dark Gods, we will need as many special weapons teams as we can muster. That's why we need to involve Questers in what would normally be auror business."

"Norway is a NATO ally. We can't just launch a battle within one of their cities. Tony must be involved in these discussions, but I'm certain he will tell you that the Norwegian government must be involved. You should think about how much you are willing to share with the Norwegians, while somebody brings the Prime Minister here." Mrs. Toms was so adamant, that Harry immediately agreed and we paused the message for breakfast, to wait for Ron to fetch Tony.

Tony agreed with Mrs. Toms. We needed to visit the Norwegian Prime Minister. An invitation to remove the invaders from Norway was a prerequisite for any adventuring we might decide to undertake in Trondheim. Tony agreed that adventuring was called for, but we must approach this the right way. "I've dealt with you and your people for some time; my predecessor was aware of your existence and kindly alerted me - actually better treatment than I expected. We must visit Norway. You are needed both to perform magic for the Prime Minister and to detect any lying. I must know if Norway is aware of the circle. I think it will be fine. If you have anyone who can Apparate to Norway, we should leave at once."

Shacklebolt had previously visited Oslo. I was continuously amazed by all the places Shacklebolt had visited and the life he had lived. He had seen a lot and had thoroughly enjoyed most of it. I decided we needed Cissy. Tony said he needed to call ahead. Harry transported him to the old Dursley house and back. We were still skittish about the cell phones, although Tony claimed his to be "absolutely secure; at least as secure as British industry and intelligence can make it."

Harry decided that, as the leader of our community, he must be a part of the traveling party. Shacklebolt Apparated Harry, Hermione, Cissy, Tony, Odin and me to a deserted back alley. When you are a Wizard who travels by Apparation, normally deserted back alleys are the Heathrow of travel. We walked to the Prime Minister's residence. It was only a half-mile stroll. Tony announced to the Prime Minister's guards "I believe we are expected."

One guard led us into the residence, mentioning "the intelligence and military chiefs are with the Prime Minister."

Harry turned to say something to Shacklebolt as we were about to enter the office, so Hermione was first in. "You're a woman!". "You look surprisingly normal and attractive for a Witch!"

"It's so refreshing to see a woman leading a nation. I don't know if you know or not, but beings from another world have built a very malevolent magical engine in your country. It is likely a threat to all of us." Hermione blurted.

I was a little shocked by Hermione and jumped to alertness in order to truth tell the Prime Minister's response.

"No, I am unaware of either a magical engine or other worldly beings in Norway. Please tell me more. Your Prime Minister told me that you had something 'extremely frightening and frankly rather unbelievable', which you needed to discuss with me. This fits those categories. But - basics, I am told that you are magical Witches. My advisors are skeptical. Prove it!"

I had given myself a pat on the back for rapidly switching into truth-teller mode but saw that Cissy's eyes were riveted upon the Prime Minister. We all agreed that she spoke the truth. Cissy and I each asked permission of one of the advisors, before levitating them about the room with the Mobilicorpus spell. Their faces bore expressions of semi-frightened surprise as they were moved about the room, sometimes coming within a whisker of the ceiling, while at other times bobbing up and down in place. We carefully deposited them back on the carpet, lest we cause them to barf. Odin identified himself as the ancient God of her ancestors and demonstrated how he could swell to nine feet tall and move furniture with just a small gesture of a single finger. The Prime Minister was totally convinced.

"This must be our secret," Tony told her. "The Americans would put this knowledge to very poor use."

The Prime Minister nodded. It was an up-and-down nod, but I would have been happier with a verbal assent, which I could have truth told. Of course, we had to make a long presentation to explain magical circles, travel between inhabited worlds, living Gods - some of them of the dark variety, Voldemort and wars among magical peoples living within European communities. No, we didn't know any magical people who lived in Norway, but suspected they were present, and that Viktor likely knew of them. Yes, we were friendly to her people and her government. Yes, if the circle in Trondheim was associated with dark Gods, as we believed was the case, it was a danger to her people. Yes, this was exactly the sort of circle which could give rise to another Voldemort. Yes, we would explain more to her; yes, we could show her another world; she could see magical creatures as well as other magical thinking beings like Elves and Goblins. No, Norwegian magical folk, if they existed and attended a magical school, did not go to Hogwarts. They went to Durmstrang. We couldn't give her permission to visit, but we would ask Viktor Krum, who was a friend and the Durmstrang headmaster.

The Prime Minister opened the door and told an aide "I am going to lock this door. Nobody is to enter or to disturb us. We will be a while."

The door was locked. The Minister wanted to visit Durmstrang. Its circle would do for a tour. Yes, she understood the urgency of the situation, but she wasn't willing to allow us to attack the warehouse, without more personal verification of our story. She accepted that we were magical. She wasn't convinced of our righteousness. Yes, she trusted Tony, but he wasn't Norwegian. She had a responsibility to her people. She couldn't just allow Britons to attack a warehouse in Norway.

After a quick tour of the castle, the Prime Minister requested that Viktor assemble all his students. She called out one question, in perfect German: "How many of you are Norwegian? Please raise your hands."

Three boys and a girl raised their hands. One of the boys looked like he might be in his final year; the other three students were first or second years.

"Thank you. I'd like to speak to the four Norwegian students. Could you gather around me, please?"

Viktor excused the other students. Cho was with us. She had traveled to Durmstrang, in response to a Stone message from me. Ron also was with us. Odin decided that if we might be facing dark Gods not so many hours from now, that he would take this time to teach us a new curse he had invented. "I like the way you have named your new curses, so I call mine 'drain'. Its purpose is to debilitate a dark God by draining his magical energy. Yes, the dark Gods were all males, before they transitioned to noncorporeal form. I believe this new curse is usable with your double- and triple-simultaneous-curses. It should work better on a dark God than a triple 'Ex-ter-mi-nate!'. Instead of visualising energy flowing from your body, through your arm, and to your wand you will need to picture yourself sucking life energy from the dark God through your wand and into your body. It likely will only weaken, or even incapacitate, them, but you should know that it may be a killing curse used in this way. I must tell you one huge advantage over 'Ex-ter-mi-nate': it will not debilitate you. You can use it twice in quick succession because it restores your magical reserves. The downside is that you need to keep a firm grasp on your wits. In addition to sucking out energy, it also seems to suck out knowledge, memories, and a taste of your victim's personality, So, beware! But... know exactly what to beware of."

Okay. We sort of practiced. This wasn't the sort of curse which blew apart a mannikin or sandbags when done properly. It did suck the life out of the potted palm outside the assembly room, when Hermione, Harry, and I chose that as our target. We decided not to do any more practicing, even though the Norwegian Prime Minister spoke to the students from her nation for well over an hour.

When her meeting was over, she walked over and announced: "I approve the attack! My forces will secure the perimeter and my two aides and Anders here, she had her arm around the strapping final-year student, will accompany you on the warehouse raid. Anders says he is a good student who is well able to look after himself in a fight - isn't that so, headmaster?"

"Yes, Anders is one of our finest fighters. He is a part of our best student triple-curse team. Of course, he can join us on the team, as can his two partners. I will come and bring the two faculty members who partner with me."

We planned the attack for 3:00 A.M. The sky was partly clouded over, and the sliver of moon was barely visible. The Prime Minister's forces blocked off all the roads leading to the warehouse at 2:45. Odin had fetched Sleipnir, as well as two wolves. We had some other surprises planned for the operators of this mysterious circle. Harry and I were going to lead a team of attackers who would fly our brooms to the roof of the warehouse and cut and blow our way through that roof to attack from above, while other teams attacked through all three warehouse doors. There were high windows on two sides of the warehouse and broom riders would hover outside and pick off targets of opportunity. My team had a lot of tricks to unleash.

We flew to the roof and then some of us returned to ground to Apparate a half dozen British soldiers onto the roof. The soldiers set what the former Lord Montaigne had once referred to as 'Muggle charges' to blow precise holes in several sections of the roof. At precisely 3:15, the charges were set off, signaling those on the ground to attack through the doors. The soldiers threw a slew of flash-bangs through the holes in the roof. We followed them with Weasley magical Black-Out, the new and improved version of George's product. Exactly ninety seconds after the roof was breached, Hermione-Cissy-Me and Viktor-Cho-Vladimir were the two triple-curse teams flying through the roof holes. We were wearing the magical goggles which allowed us to see almost normally through the black-out, as were all our other attackers, although even the improved version of this George product gave only hazy sight to nonmagical. We knew it would serve Odin well. Our triple-curse teams loitered only an instant to orient ourselves and then zoomed toward the center of the circle. Our goal was to seize the gems at the heart of the circle. Our curse could drain the strength of the dark Gods, while disabling their circle would prevent them from recharging.

I have never had Hermione's reasoned understanding of how magic works or even her instinctive take on first seeing a new magical technology, but I understood why this circle was so disruptive before my feet even touched down on the lodestone. There were four gems at the center of the lodestone, but there was zero symmetry. There was an egg-sized central stone. I couldn't identify it - the Weasley goggles gave good clarity of shape-sight through this magical fog, but the world was all shades of grey, with no colour. It could have been a purple diamond I wrenched from its metallic mounting, for all I knew. The other three gems were all different sizes, with one larger that the central stone. They were all stacked to one side of the center stone. The smallest of the outlying gems was a darker shade of grey. I congratulated my mind for its quick analysis as I watched Hermione and Cissy tear the final three gems from their mountings. No time for further reflection, I had just spotted a dark God emerging from an opening in the floor. I nudged Hermione and Cissy, pointing at the God.

We rearranged ourselves to be kneeling side by side as we pointed our wands at this being the tips of our wands touching. **On drain, after three. One, two, three, 'DRAIN!'**** Both teams fired our curses at the same instant.**

Working through our Black Stone gave us the ability to launch our curse instantaneously. I had to force myself to keep my wand in its proper position, the result of this curse was so surprising. No flash of green to slay the invading God. A bright spot appeared on the God's surface, then a wandering streamer of only somewhat bright light meandered over to our wands. My arm felt warm and tingly. Soon my whole person felt this way - both body and mind. The whole process lasted several seconds. The light became weaker and took an increasingly erratic path to our wands. It then just vanished. The God teetered, then fell. I felt thoughts and emotion, as well as magical energy, flowing into me. The main emotion I had sensed was indignation and the resigned thought: 'Quetzel, the coward, has fled and left us to our fate'.

No time to ponder this. Other threats approached. I saw what must be a Veneran. It looked like a short Troll. I gave it an 'Off!' It kept coming at me. I grabbed Cissy's arm and pointed. "Off!" I told her. She knelt beside me. I chanted "One, two, three, 'Off!" through the Stone and was rewarded by the familiar lightning flash of green light. The troll fell at once.

Demons were foaming from the hole in the floor. Then they were exploding before my eyes. This was one of our planned surprises. Captain Davies and her troops had a chaff dispenser on the roof and the demons were now grounding out as fast as they emerged. I saw Cho's team drop another dark God, as Odin's spear hit a Veneran square in the chest. I saw Barb and Bill diving on their brooms toward the hole in the floor. This was our next surprise: bombs, including a chaff-dispensing bomb. I gave a Stone warning to get out of the warehouse. Those of us who could Apparated to the parking lot, grabbing hold of any non-Apparators in our vicinity. The others were moving away from the hole in the floor. There were several loud bangs and I felt the shock and rumble roll across my body. The warehouse largely still stood in place, although part of the wall and roof adjacent to the hole partially collapsed.

I wasn't oblivious to the danger, but knew what must be done, as I led our forces back into the warehouse. Priority was getting our dazed forces to safety. Then we needed to goop and remove prisoners before the whole warehouse collapsed upon them. I'm sure we 'rescued' some dead, but it was quicker just to Apparate all bodies outside the warehouse. The few Venerans, who had been standing, were no longer present. They must have Apparated to safety.

"You are going to think this an overly risky pursuit of scientific knowledge, but I promise it isn't," Hermione pleaded as we finished sweeping the warehouse floor for the fallen of both sides. "I suspect they have as ample a supply of gems as we do. We killed the circle for now, but they can return with replacement gems. The scarce item is the lodestone. Take it and this circle is truly dead. I want to Apparate it back to Hogwarts. Please assemble an Apparation crew, while I dart back to Hogwarts to clear an appropriate landing spot."

"That makes sense," I answered, but what was the part about scientific knowledge?"

"I couldn't see enough to be sure, but that didn't seem like a normal lodestone to me."

I wanted to ask her how the stone was different, but she was gone. I found Harry and explained what Hermione wanted to do. Harry helped me assemble a team of a dozen aurors and our most magical Questers. Hermione returned and led us to the lodestone. I hadn't noticed, but the stone was simply resting on the floor and didn't seem to be sealed to the floor with silver. I'm sure Hermione already knew that. We had to magically blast away enough of the cement floor at the edge of the lodestone to get a proper handhold.

**Watch your feet and hands. Allow me to do the steering, just focus on lifting and giving me strength. We go on three. One, two, three.**

Hermione did a terrific job of steering us and the rest of us at least safely avoided a splinch. "First, this definitely isn't lodestone. Second, we need to get back," Hermione actually gave that order to Harry. Harry obeyed, without so much as a side glance at her.

We had no dead on our side, but one of Captain Davies' soldiers had been seriously injured, when she fell through the roof. Both legs were broken, the right leg with the bone protruding through her skin, just below the knee. Odin was ministering to her. I could tell that he had totally deadened the pain. "I broke the fall, as best I could from atop Sleipnir. She needs Yggdrasil. Bring the prisoners with us. One God is dead and one comatose. Two dead and two knocked-out Venerans. The God will have to be dropped off on a dead world, so it doesn't recharge. I have it effectively grounded. I'll meet you back at Yggdrasil."

Hermione and I gently carried and Apparated the injured Lieutenant Jeffry. Cho, Cissy, Barb, and Ron transported the inert Veneran prisoners. Harry and Viktor had to remain behind to keep our forces organised and to communicate with the Norwegian Prime Minister and Tony.

We propped the goop bound Venerans against a wall of the Yggdrasil study, but waited to release them from their slumber until Odin returned. We didn't have to wait long for Odin, but we did have a two-hour wait while he repaired Lieutenant Jeffry. At several critical intervals, Odin recruited us to briefly assist his healing efforts. He finally declared "the leg will be fine, but I will leave her in a forced sleep, so she feels no discomfort during the initial recovery process. I think Yggdrasil must house her for a week. I don't like to plaster limbs, but that was a severe break. Don't worry about her. She is in good care. Now, to the prisoners."

We decided it best to revive the prisoners one at a time. Odin warned our first prisoner "I am the mighty God Odin and you are my prisoner inside Yggdrasil. There is no point trying to escape or lying to us. We can detect your lies and Yggdrasil can probe your mind. We will release you unharmed when you have told us what we need to know. It is your own belligerent actions, which have landed you in this fix." Odin motioned to me to start the questioning.

"Why did you invade our world, which I believe you call Terra? Why did you build a circle to disrupt magic and foment dark magic? That was an extremely hostile act."

"We acted in self-defence. You invaded our allies on Vanaheimer. Your world went from nothing to a great threat all too fast. It wasn't natural. We had to understand. Where did your help come from? We know you are Odin's pet agents, but you have progressed much faster and are far more independently hostile than any of his former agents. It was just a matter of time until you attacked us as you attacked the Vanir. You are upstarts who are too ignorant to realise all the problems you cause. We merely built a circle to power ourselves and our friendly Gods, while we studied you. If you proved not to be an active threat, we would leave and keep you under sporadic surveillance. We saw enough to know you are great threat. You have too much power for such ignorant people. You aren't even united among yourselves. You fight, fight, fight. You are a menace to all. Our circle is not a weapon. It is our standard design, which suits the needs of ourselves and our Gods. We only want to be left alone. We mainly stay on our own world. We do not seek visitors. We do not seek trade. We seek isolation."

"We are more than willing to isolate you."

"Yes, we certainly are." Odin spat. "I do not see my allies as hostile. They have an aversion to killing. How did you reach their world?"

"We walked the road between worlds."

"A fortress defended that route."

"That is Vili's. He is friend. We slept there on our way to Terra."

"To correct your misimpression: we did not invade Vanaheimer. We were invited to travel there to build improved magical circles. We fought only when attacked. We stunned, rather than killing, if that was at all possible."

"Are you truly that ignorant. Miomor did not want you on her world. She 'invited' you because that was to be Odin's demand. She intended to get you in and out, with as little contact with her people and snooping into their secrets as possible, without directly offending Odin. You learned too many secrets. You also invaded with Frijjo."

"Frijjo supported Vili, whom you list as friend. By the way, we now control Vili's fortress."

"Then my friends who retreated are in deadly danger."

I urgently messaged Harry through our Black Stone, alerting him that the remnants of the Veneran attack force were retreating toward the fortress. Its defenders needed reinforcing. Harry said aurors were leaving, even as we spoke. I returned my attention to our prisoner. I asked if his people would leave our world alone if we left their world alone.

"Yes, but Odin will never permit that. You side with the Aesir who would oppress us You are Odin's puppet warriors. You are good at fighting, but your mind is weak. You have no culture."

"You picked the wrong Aesir to ally with. Vili is a nasty liar. He drugged one of our Questers, impregnated her, then tried to steal her baby. We stopped him. We could have killed him, but we turned him over to his brother."

"It would have been kinder to kill him. And... I know all about Adrienne and about the terrible need and prophecy, which required a child of Vili and an intelligent cultured Terran Witch to live on Asgard and lead the Aesir."

"If Adrienne was so special, why did Vili try to pull the same trick on Cissy and me. And why did he pull in on close to a dozen magical Chinese women and make off with their babies? Answer that!"

"He said he thought you or Cissy would meet the needs of the prophecy and the Aesir, but decided you were not suitable. I doubt the Chinese baby making ever happened. Vili told me of his plan for Adrienne. Why keep the other secret? That makes no sense."

"Vili did deny that ever happened. I forgot to report back to you, but I did question my brother very closely and made full use of my truth-telling skills. I think your Mr. Tsieh simply made that up. I know you don't trust. That is another reason to distrust him."

We told our prisoner that we were going to 'Off!' him again, while we questioned his partner. Then he would be free to leave. We did that. The partner confirmed what we had been told by... I guess I neglected to ask his name. The second prisoner, whose name I learned was Agul, wasn't quite as trusting of Vili, actively distrusted Frijjo, and admitted that he was more than willing to fight our world if his leaders thought it necessary. He declared that he found us uncivilised, but not worth the effort of fighting. Odin could find other puppets if we were dead, so what was the point? He did answer Hermione's challenge: "if you are so peaceful, why are the dark Gods back on your world? We gave them their own world. That's what they said they wanted. All that they wanted. They were going to leave us in peace. If we didn't save the last of the Vanaheimer attackers, there would be no dark Gods left. He rescued his fellow Gods, who were too depleted to travel. Or at least that's what he told us. Did we make a terrible mistake?"

"No. They have difficulty living with their own kind. Even with just six of them left, they can't agree on anything. Half of them prefer being with us. Three insisted upon observing you, to make certain you weren't a threat. The other three objected and sent one of their number to supervise and ensure that the others didn't attack the people of your world. One of the three who demanded the right to observe your world close up was forced to remain behind, because the three objectors apparently wanted him as a sort of hostage. They really can be difficult to deal with. They didn't join the collective you call the Light Guardian, because they are hopefully and hopelessly individualistic and independent. They see themselves as artists and philosophers, but mainly they just sit around, argue, and pout. They like us because we have so many artists and philosophers. We mastered very advanced magical technology many millennia ago. It takes very few producers to satisfy my people's physical needs. On the other hand, we have an insatiable appetite for art and new ideas."

That seemed to be an ultra-polite way of saying we were uncivilized. A whole planet full of Sean's. How fortunate could I be. I wondered if I'd like the Veneran producers better than these artist types. Neither had mentioned Veneran aurors or soldiers, so I asked the prisoner about this.

"Yes, we have them. Not highly regarded professions. Lesser than the producers. We don't have a lot of crime. If you steal an idea, you are shamed, not arrested. We have perhaps a thousand soldiers and twice as many police. They aren't all magical."


	52. Chapter 52

**Chapter 52 – Why Does Everyone Always Need To Know More, More, More?**

Odin decided that we should 'Off!' this prisoner again, while we went off to interview the captured dark God. Perhaps we would return all three together, perhaps one at a time, "perhaps it will be just too dangerous to ever return the God. I am learning that these dark Gods are not to be trusted or taken at their word."

Hermione and I agreed to this plan, but Harry picked that instant to interject a different point of view.

**Good News and a slight problem. We won the battle. Two aurors stunned and shaken up, but nobody on our side killed. The injuries came when the attackers blew apart the front side of the fortress. The dark God was killed, I think. It's hard to tell for sure. Two dead Venerans, another two captured in pristine condition, a fifth captured severely injured. I think he'll make it, but he might need Odin's help and he might not end up with both legs. The complication is that both Tony and the Norwegian Prime Minister insist upon talking to all the prisoners. I'm back at Hogwarts with both. May I bring them to Yggdrasil?**

Hermione and Odin had both heard Harry's message and nodded yes. Harry warned that he would arrive in fifteen minutes and that both Ministers were in an obstreperous mood, with the Norwegian Prime Minister asking, "what have you gotten me into?'

I apologised in advance to Odin. Shepherding nonmagical leaders in circumstances too hazardous for them to experience and too magical for them to comprehend wasn't going to be any fun at all. Add obstreperous on top of that and … Not good. Simply not good. We woke one of our prisoners, telling him that others wished to hear his tale personally. I told him that three of his fellow Venerans had survived the battle on the ribbon, although one was severely injured and arriving here for treatment. Just as I said that, Barb and Bill arrived with the prisoner. He was unconscious and a big piece of each of his legs was missing.

"Self-inflicted explosion," Bill explained. "It seems the Venerans also had bombs, although theirs were smaller than ours. This guy was about to throw one at us, when we 'Off!'ed him. It exploded on the ground, right in front of us. Nasty! Still I won't pretend that I wasn't thinking 'better him than us'. They put up quite a fight. Blew a big hole in the fortress and destroyed two of the three wand arrays. We are hastening to replace the arrays and seal the breach in the fortress."

"Our bombs were only a last resort, a fallback self-defence. We only brought two soldiers with us. The rest of us are scholars. The scholars oversaw the mission. The mission's purpose was to learn about you and your intentions. We never attacked you! You blocked this one's only retreat route. What choice did you give him? He certainly wouldn't have risked becoming Odin's captive. Better to die fighting. That is his vow as a Veneran. Now he's ruined. That's your fault, not ours."

Tony and the Norwegian Prime Minister questioned both of our prisoners. They got essentially the same answers we had. This time, however, the second prisoner admitted that the results of their study of us, if they determined us to be violent and a threat to the people of Venera, could justify an actual attack upon our world. They had already observed enough that their provisional conclusion was that invasion must be strongly considered. Of course, they would collect more data, before making such a drastic recommendation. That would involve larger bombs and more potent magical weapons. On this trip, they depended upon the Gods, plus the two, lightly armed soldiers, to protect them against any hostilities from our side."

Tony seized upon that comment: "So, you were the advance scouting party to determine how best to attack us. You found us to be violent enough to justify an invasion? Norway is not at all a violent nation. There also are almost no magical people living there. If your stay in Norway was enough to convince you that we must be invaded, then I can only conclude that your minds were made up before you arrived."

"Yes, it certainly seems that you were a threat to my people. How did you gain control of the warehouse? It was rented. I've seen several Venerans and one of the dead Gods. They don't look like anyone a respectable Norwegian would rent property to. So, how did you pull that off?"

She was sharp. How did Hermione and I miss that important question. Of course, we didn't know the space was rented. I assumed they were just squatting in a vacant building.

"Why should I tell you that. They helped us. I won't betray them."

"Well perhaps we don't need to return you home," Odin mused aloud.

"Spiked Veritaserum? Hermione was already pulling the bottle from her bag as she spoke.

Shacklebolt had arrived with the other two prisoners - both 'Off'ed. He seemed amused by the conversation he had come in upon.

"It's strange that you would sacrifice your freedom for those who gave you away to us, how do you suppose we found your warehouse? We got an anonymous tip. But seriously, who else could the tipster have been? Who else knew you were here?"

That did the trick. He didn't know names, but he could describe the two men he dealt with. Not a great verbal description.

Hermione produced a soft lead pencil and a sketch pad from her bag. "You say you're a great artist. Draw them for us."

He was a good artist. It took only fifteen minutes to have drawings which were clearly showing Barnabas Cuffe and Mr. Tsieh.

"You've been here quite a while. We've had this one locked up for some time," Shacklebolt indicated Barnabas. "Who are your friends?"

The seriously injured guy was identified as a music scholar. One of the other two was "one of our soldiers." The other was a poet minstrel. We chose the soldier for questioning.

The soldier was belligerent, but talkative. He accused us of invading Venera. "We downed and captured the raven! We know full well that the bird was one of Odin's spies. We will not tolerate spying upon our world. We know full well it is the prelude to the invasion Odin always dreamed of. He lacks enough Aesir to pull it off, which brought him to you. You are his allies. You would willingly fight us for Odin's benefit. Don't deny it! I've seen you with my own eyes, walking and talking with Odin: on this world, on Asgard, in the City Vana, even in seid-space. Odin builds a secret army on Terra. Miomor investigated. She confirmed some of our worst fears. Now you have killed her, as well as our Gods. Enemy! You attacked our circle. Venera is a far older world than Terra. We have every right to come here and determine that you abide by the Covenant."

"What you complain about is very little grounds for invading my country," the Norwegian Prime Minister chastised him. When was the last time a person from this world set foot on yours?"

"Never, it is the responsibility for me and my fellows to assure that such a thing never happens. Terra is very much a junior partner under the Covenant. We are a senior member. The Aesir usurped our rightful place, but we are the oldest of the Covenant worlds. We rightly deserve to lead."

"That is no grounds to invade us. When is the last time the last time Odin or the Aesir invaded you?"

"Never!" Odin's response was immediate and very loud.

"Not true, the Aesir invaded by world about six thousands of Terran years ago. We repulsed them. It took us two hundred years and our society was greatly harmed, but thanks to the soldier class, we prevailed."

"I set foot on their world one time, at the specific invitation of the Veneran government. They demanded reparations for a six thousand year ago war, which they started by sending a raiding party to Asgard. A raiding party of over a thousand soldiers. Nearly a thousand of my people died defeating that invasion. When I told them that there would be no reparations, they attempted to take me captive, for ransom."

"He killed a dozen soldiers. We had every right to send a raiding party to Asgard. We had completed an important trade deal with the Vanir, our whole economy was gearing up to produce the goods we had agreed to trade. The Aesir persuaded the Vanir to break the deal. We believe threats were used. The Vanir made a new deal with Asgard and our economy was crushed. We demanded compensation, and when that was refused, we acted honorably to force rightful compensation of our merchants."

"That still gives you no right to invade our world," Tony declared.

"We had more right than we even realised. You have warriors on the pathway between worlds. You have a fortress! That is prohibited by ancient treaty! We are entitled to take whatever action is required to ensure safe passage for our people. The actions of these..." He pointed at Hermione and me. "...in conspiring with Odin is enough justification for us to act. Our laws permit us to conquer your world for such an offense, but we merely came to observe. I saw that we could easily conquer you."

"And yet here you sit as our prisoner. And the fortress was built by your ally Vili and you slept in it on your way to our world. So, you had a fortress on the road between worlds and we took it after it attacked us. So, no points to you. Time for you to sleep again." Hermione and I touched the tips of our wands: "Off!"

"We might do well to hang onto that one," Odin remarked, as if it were an issue unworthy of serious thought. "We have a God to interview. Hermione, Cissy, and Ginny should come with me."

"No. Britain must be represented. I must come with you."

"If Britain goes, so does Norway. I need to learn more of these Gods who threaten my country."

Odin frowned, but he held out his hands to the two Prime Ministers. We grabbed the Ministers' other hands and Barb joined us. It was an unusually belly-churning trip and I had to step back quickly to avoid Norwegian vomitus. I congratulated myself on my quick response, as I was totally stunned to see where Odin had brought us.

"Really? You thought it safe to bring the God this close to Vili. Once we wake him, surely he will sense and communicate with Vili."

"Regrettably, there was no other choice. Vili is no more. It wasn't fair to leave you responsible for him. I told the fortress to kill him. I was overly sentimental. I tried my best to fix his mind, but he was too far gone. I have severed all links to my family. Pity Odin!"

It turned out that the dark God, who was our prisoner, was the observer sent by the faction which opposed the mission to Earth. That surprised me: I had been certain that the God who fled must have been the one opposed to the invasion. Nope, one of the belligerent Gods had also been a coward. I, and the others, were so disbelieving of this God's factional loyalty that we spent over an hour trying to shake his story or truth-tell a lie.

"We sensed emotion and feeling from the God we accidentally killed. I'm going to nip back and ask Cho if her team sensed anything off this guy, when they stunned him," Hermione whispered to me.

"Just message her through Yggdrasil."

There was a several minute pause, then Hermione relayed Cho's answer: "Cho says this guy probably is the nonbelligerent."

From that point the questioning was far more relaxed, almost conversational. We wanted to know why the dark Gods had broken their pledge to stay on their new world. Why had they participated in an invasion of our world, after we had saved them and given them a new, live world? Could we trust them at all? If we sent him home, would he betray us once again?"

Splendee, that was the God's name, apparently adopted at the time he left his body behind - a new name for a totally new second life - was very apologetic. He had meant us no harm. He joined the invasion as a neutral referee to prevent his fellow Gods from inflicting harm upon us. The six Gods, in solemn counsel, had agreed only to observe us, not to attack us. They did this mainly out of debt to the Venerans who had been the initial providers of refuge to them, when they were trapped in the dark void and close to death. That debt had to be repaid, upon demand, even though they acknowledged an equal debt to us. That was why the chosen compromise was required. Observation, with Splendee as the enforcer of no violence, got a critical fourth vote from his faction, out of a nagging fear that we were too powerful and would change our minds and lead to their destruction. They feared that if we mentioned their location to the Light Guardian, that it would put an end to them. Fear can make one do terrible things. He thought we attacked the warehouse out of a similar fear. We simply didn't trust each other enough. We must work on that. He would do his best to reinforce the peace on his return to Unicorn World. Since he was still alive, he assumed he would be returned.

Odin told him that this assumption was correct. "Why are the Venerans so angry about things which happened millennia ago and were really their own fault? None of us has done anything to harm them. They took me captive. I haven't sought vengeance for that."

"It is their way. They cannot accept defeat or admit they are wrong. The soldier caste is very protective of its rights and honor. You shamed them when you escaped. You killed ten of them. That has been a rallying cry all this time. The soldiers were more marginalised in Veneran society after the defeat of your escape. They are bitter about that. They stoke the Venerans' fear and demands for revenge. It would have come to nothing, had Frijjo, Vili, and Miomor not contacted them. They made alliance against you with the Venerans and factions among the Vanir. They said that you planned war. The Venerans would not have acted without that interference and the suggestion that, together, they could destroy you and your allies. They painted the choices as conquer or be conquered. That is why my brothers were on Vanaheimer.

"There were only six of you left. You squander your brothers most foolishly. You made a big mistake. I forgive this one. Make certain this doesn't happen again. We will allow you to take three of the captive Venerans back to Venera. The soldier stays with us for now. I have just two more questions, then you may be on your way. How did you spy on Hogwarts and Durmstrang? How long have you known of Vili's fortress?"

Although ravens could barely fly on Venera, the Venerans had raised ravens for spying upon other worlds. The mission had brought a half dozen ravens to Earth. They had ravens on Asgard and Vanaheimer. There were no permanent spying missions to those worlds. A pair of soldiers was sent once every 547 Earth days to learn what the ravens had discovered. That's how they knew of the Quest activities on those worlds. The mission to Terra also had its own version of Odin's looking glass. The range wasn't great, and it was difficult to direct the glass's gaze to an interesting spot, but they had gathered useful background information. They had known about the fortress for over three hundred years.

"So long!" Odin muttered. "Any lingering sense of guilt or regret over Vili is removed."

We transported the Venerans to the fortress on the ribbon between worlds and carried them through it to their side of it. Splendee could travel on his own power. We awoke the Venerans and sent them on their way, promising severe repercussions should they invade us again. Splendee promised that the dark Gods would be friendlier in future. "Our faction is now firmly in control. My report will say that you were in the right. Our debt to Venera has been repaid in lost spirits. We will have no more to do with them."

We watched as they receded into the distance and then vanished around a curve in the ribbon. Splendee's words had been encouraging, but Viktor and Harry insisted upon doubling the garrison at the fortress and adding additional wand arrays. Odin agreed: "unfortunate, but very necessary."

"Now, we must explore the warehouse. I want to know what was in that basement," Viktor urged us to hasten back to Norway. The two Prime Ministers quickly agreed. We returned to the Norwegian Prime Minister's office. Hermione went straight to Hogwarts to process the pictures she had taken from inside the warehouse. The Norwegian Prime Minister left us for an hour for a quick press conference to discuss a propane explosion at an abandoned warehouse, which had been squatted by criminals doing who knew what. She covered well for us, but her pique was evidenced by her sole comment upon her return.

"I've held the media at bay but having listened to your questioning of the Venerans and the surviving dark God, I feel that I must ask you: "Wouldn't diplomacy have been a better approach? You rushed in to fight, without even trying persuasion. You have told me of your aspiration to be a good Mother and Light Guardian Priestess. I believe you are sincere on that, but... I must tell you this: "You have fallen far short of that ideal. You are far too much the natural fighter, rather than the healer or diplomat. You must do better. You will give women leaders a bad name. Now, let's visit the warehouse and learn if anything thee justifies your reckless actions."

I felt abashed. I was feeling a little bad, before she said that. We had used the 'Drain!' curse on the dark Gods before they had attacked us - even though our assault had roused them from their slumber. Even the Venerans had not cursed first. I had noticed on my own that the prisoner interviews had revealed close to a loathing of us and a hint of future warfare, but no direct evidence that their mission to Earth had been other than one of observation. One intended to answer the question: do our peoples need to be enemies? I still didn't understand why a variable output circle best suited their unique magical needs, but I had truth-told both Venerans and Splendee and found no lie among their totally consistent statements that the design of their circle was not intended to harm us. I would have to think on all of this. First, we had to examine the warehouse. Even though it would indicate a higher level of future peril, a large part of my mind hoped that we would find something in the warehouse to justify the killing we had just done.

While we had been away, questioning prisoners, Norwegian structural and Ministry magical engineers had worked rapidly to stabilize the structure of the warehouse - the roof would not fall in on us. Hermione, and the Norwegian Prime Minister, insisted upon a thorough, scientific examination. No, I couldn't just rush to see what secrets the basement held. Hermione had joined us sooner than expected, because our magical camera had failed to peer through the Weasley black fog. Her pictures showed nothing. We started at the circle, taking proper pictures as we explored. A Norwegian photographer and one nominated by Mrs. Toms shadowed Bill as he took picture after picture. There wasn't a lot to see of the circle, since the gems and the 'lodestone' upon which they sat had been removed by us. It was quite a small circle. There was an inner ring of what I now recognised as silicon crystals and an outer ring of calcites. Neither were taller than twenty inches. Gold lattice had linked the crystals making up each of these rings. Most of the lattice was gone, but a few intact regions showed an elaborate web pattern, not matching any I had seen before.

After a little over an hour spent documenting the circle, we scoured the floor of the warehouse, starting at the wall farthest from the hole to the basement, then moving around and beyond the hole to the far war. As we approached the hole, the quantity of chaff on the floor increased, making exploration more of a slow, cleaning process. Six aurors guarded the hole. Their level of alertness suggested that they feared someone or something dangerous lurked in the darkness beneath our feet. The floor, itself, contained little of great interest. There was bedding and cooking equipment and supplies. The Venerans had slept and lived on this level. There was bedding for a dozen. That was the major discovery. Among the dead and captured, only ten Venerans had been accounted for. We told the Norwegian Prime Minister that two Venerans were unaccounted for. There were weapons on the floor: wands made of metal - I had seen one of the Venerans brandishing one of these at me. Unfortunately, cooperation required that we, the British government, and the Norwegians each took three of the novel wands. This was a lot of advanced magical technology seeping into the nonmagical world. Secretary Afshar would be livid. Our own Wizengamot, even the friendly members, would be none too pleased.

I had been both scientific and thorough. I had devoted six hours to exploring every corner and helping Hermione to log everything we found. Now, tired, and hungry as I was, I wanted to explore the basement. I chose the initial party to accompany me, gathering them around me for detailed instructions.

"No!" Barb said this calmly enough, but she was emphatic. "There are two missing Venerans. There may well be booby traps. This is auror work. I'm sorry, but you must wait a little longer. Why don't you and Hermione grab some food. You must be starved. We'll be as quick as we can be, but please - just let us do our jobs. You've taken enough risks already. Way more than enough. You also look like you could badly use a rest."

Barb, Bill, and two other aurors descended into the hole. I could only watch. Then, the flash of curses had me racing to the mouth of the pit.

**We're fine. The Venerans are 'Petrificused. No injuries on our side. Bill and I had our defenses upped to maximum through the Black Stone. We still need to explore.**

Hermione pulled two cheese sandwiches and a big jug of pumpkin juice from her bag. We ate. We drank. We rested and calmed. I had been both starving and tired. I watched with a strange detachment as the two Venerans were removed from the basement, gooped, and leaned against the near wall. Wait a second! There were three Venerans! Obviously, that was one too many. Even drifting along on the overly tired, back side of an adrenaline high, I knew this must be wrong. I shook myself to alertness. A threat could still appear before us, even though we were sitting just beyond a ring of a dozen of Viktor's and our own aurors. We had finished our meal, rested, and grown restive, before Barb stood in front of us and announced that it was safe for us to explore the basement.

"But, but... the extra Veneran?"

"Yes, we found sleeping bunks for these three. The missing two from the main floor of the warehouse are still missing. We have this floor well-guarded; you can enter the basement. I'll come with you."

I descended a very steep ladder, which was only visible as I produced a 'Lumos' and stared straight down the hole. The steep ladder was awkward to negotiate, with one hand holding my wand, but I made it without falling. Hermione wisely chose to leave her bag on the warehouse floor and use both hands on the ladder.

I saw the bunks. I also saw three of what I had assumed in India were statues of dark Gods. That had been out of place and ominous enough. Now a scarier thought flowed unbidden to the front of my mind. "These are what the Gods use to sleep and recharge!" I excitedly shouted at Hermione, before she had even turned to look in that direction. That is one way to have the insight first.

"I think you're right. These structures are nine feet tall. That must be the size of a fully charged dark God. These look almost like what we saw in India, although the Indian ones were a little shorter."

We also found weapons. There were three, what I'll call Veneran wand arrays. Nine of the Veneran metal wands passed through holes in two discs of silicon and terminated in a bulky handle. The things looked deadly. This might be an observatory, but it had been prepared for a fight.

I heard Hermione squeal and turned with my wand thrust outward to defend her against... whatever. Whatever was nothing. She was simply greatly excited because she had found a trove of papers. Neither of us could read Veneran, so the papers weren't of any immediate use.

"Look!" Hermione stretched out her arm in triumph.

I saw These were the same style of journal notebooks, which Frijjo had purchased in a British bookstore. Our next priority had to be learning to read Veneran. I hoped that Yggdrasil could teach us. Perhaps Odin already had the ability to read Veneran. That might yield a quicker translation, but there seemed to be so much bad blood between Odin and the Venerans that our own independent translation seemed a prudent safeguard, which I owed to Harry.

There was a minor dispute to be resolved, before we could return home, quickly restore our energies, and set off for Yggdrasil. We had three of the Veneran multi-rod weapons and five parties expressing a right to take one. It was hard to deny Odin and Viktor, but both nonmagical governments were adamant that they needed to take one of weapons.

I asked the Norwegian Prime Minister how her nonmagical experts could expect to effectively study the weapon, promising her that we would reveal what we found as soon as we had made a careful study. She shook her head no.

"I have Anders. He can operate, study, and explain this weapon. What may have been the first battle in a war between worlds has just taken place right in the middle of a major Norwegian city. I have a responsibility; I must understand... everything. My need is greater than Tony's. You and he will have to share a weapon. Anders can report back to his headmaster. I'm sorry, that is just the way it must be."

Well, alright then.


	53. Chapter 53

**Chapter 53 – Finding and Revealing Some Answers**

Everyone acknowledged that a pause was needed, while Hermione and I caught some sleep. However, some more understandings were needed before we were excused, this was said as if we were disobedient students, needing their headmaster's permission before they could be off to their husbands and beds. I like Tony, but couldn't believe what he actually said to me: "I realize that your husband is your Minister of Magic, so you have double reason for owing him great loyalty, but I am your Prime Minister, who has helped you and your husband out of many scrapes, so you also owe me some loyalty."

This was strange and I wondered where it was leading. I soon found out. "You and Hermione are the experts, but this also affects my government, and you will need to rely upon British scientific experts as well as your own expertise, so… please take the Veneran weapon and do what you must to study it, but I want Captain Davies to be by your side, learning all that she can. I know you regard the central maybe-a-lodestone of the Veneran circle to be strange. I'm sure Hermione will hack off bits of it for her professor-uncles to analyze. I need the reports as soon as you get them. Captain Davies, or you, or the professors will relay them to me. My gut tells me that this analysis will reveal a great secret: a way to improve the working of magical circles. What you now call modern may soon be obsolete. Your community will benefit from that improvement. So must Britain. We must jointly decide how widely to share this secret. Of course, Norway must be told."

"We certainly must. I need your promise that I will be told what you discover."

I promised.

"I know you don't want Darth to know of your business or secrets, but I think some leaders of our friends across the pond must be told. I think we can isolate this from Darth and his friends. I like Dubya. He started as a rank amateur, but he has matured and learned much in office. I believe his heart is at least almost in the right place. I also think he will love to know a colossal secret that Darth doesn't know. I propose we trust him with the knowledge, with the understanding he will share it with only the most reliable and circumspect scientists and one or two trusted military leaders, whom we will need to defend against a Veneran invasion of Hawaii. I know this is a great reversal. Please at least think about it; discuss it with Harry. We also need to see the translations of all that written material which Hermione retrieved from the basement. I realize that will take time. Please feed it to us – Britain and Norway – as it becomes _available _piece-meal."

I agreed to this and got a 'good doggy' verbal pat on the head. I must have winced, because the Norwegian Prime Minister quickly tried to sooth me "I know many in the international Wizarding community have attacked you for sharing too many secrets with Muggles. You must realize that these latest discoveries pose a severe threat to all of us. It is a bigger threat than your community can deal with on its own. I know this level of cooperation will bring you more grief from your Wizengamot and from those such as Secretary Afshar. I don't think Mr. Tsieh needs to find out. I trust him no more than you do. And yes, I and my closest advisors have spoken to Tony and his closest advisors about you, our recent joint problems, and how we might best help each other. Your community is understably shy, but what alternative do we have? The Venerans are dangerous and they are allied with the Vanir. We don't know how friendly the dark Gods will be. This is a total mess. I'm happy to speak to your husband about all of this, if you think it will help"

"Maybe later, I'll talk to Harry myself."

"Speaking of talking, both Tony and I want to be present when the three new prisoners are questioned. Judging from where you found the serious weapons, these three guys are the most serious soldiers in the group. They also were in the area where you found the papers. They will have the most interesting tales to tell. Please do keep us up-to-date on your plans and your thinking. Oh... thank, you. I think you removed a menace from Norway."

Hermione and I Apparated home, leaving the aurors and other team members to defend the warehouse and our community's interests. Home, food, bed, no energy for anything beyond a brief snog with Harry. He understood. He seemed pleased - he also was completely wasted by lack of sleep and running through a very hazardous time on adrenaline. This time, I told everyone that I was giving myself and Harry ten hours of sleep, but that Yggdrasil or our Black Stone could wake me if absolutely necessary. I awoke with nobody hovering over me in my own bedroom. Harry was gone. I messaged both him and Hermione. They and Ron were meeting in Hermione's kitchen. I hastily dressed and joined them.

"Sorry, I only set myself for nine hours sleep. Beyond that it doesn't help me, just makes me feel sluggish. Harry thinks it's time to give Percy and Callista another shot at diplomacy. I think that idea has possibilities. They can be our ambassadors on Venera and try to stave off a war."

"Horrible idea," I blurted. "The Venerans captured Odin and held him hostage when he went to Venera for discussions with their government. This whole feud began, because Odin had the temerity to escape. The Venerans would certainly take Percy and Callista hostage, Harry would feel compelled to try to rescue them, and we are in the war you want to avoid. I'm very certain of this." Harry was frowning. I changed gears "I'm not rejecting the need for diplomacy, but it can't be on Venera. They will counter with Unicorn World. That also puts us in a bad position, since it is right next to Venera on the ribbon between worlds, and we have to go past Venera on the ribbon to reach it."

"Where, then?" Harry was annoyed.

"Asgard would work, if Odin agreed. Here would work, if we could keep the Veneran envoys from exploring. Ve's fortress would certainly work; the accommodations are excellent and we control the intelligence. It can't be Vanaheimer. The Vanir are allied with the Venerans against us. An uninhabited world would have Percy and the other diplomats really roughing it."

"Okay, you've given me several possibilities. I don't want the meeting to be on Earth - too much opportunity for spying. I like the idea of Ve's fortress, if you can maintain control of its intelligence. It also might set the tone in our favor, if they happened to see Vili's corpse. Does it still exist?"

"No idea. I've been to the Hogwarts circle and collected samples of the not-a-lodestone. It's metal. I'm off to see my professor-uncle. I'm okay with a diplomatic center on Asgard or Vili's fortress. The fortress might be best. You'll need representatives from both the Vanir and the Venera, so Percy and Callista will be outnumbered. We need to provide the operating staff - aurors, of course. Odin also might help, but he'll need to be invisible, unless needed. Gotta' go. Perhaps you could check whether our Black Stone knows the Veneran language, while I'm away."

"I'll do that, after I've eaten." That comment earned me a look and a shrug. I unapologetically went home and made a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, jam, and some poached pears I found - thanks Harry. Harry also had a large appetite. He expressed his pleasure, more than once, that I agreed and had concrete suggestions for giving Percy another shot at being a diplomat. "He really was an excellent aide to me, during most of my time as Deputy. In a very real sense, with all that Prudence nonsense, along with not fully trusting him or using all the abilities he displayed as my aide, your dad kind of ruined Percy. He has been a productive Ministry employee again, but his heart seems dead. I know that Callista worries about him. He feels a failure and expects to be overlooked for the rest of his career. He deserves better. Please let me know if your Black Stone can teach you Veneran. If so, I want to send Percy and Callista its way.'

I gave Harry a big snog and Apparated to the little chamber below the Black Stone, as this quest seemed to call for an intimate connection. The Black Stone greeted me warmly and almost immediately sucked me in, so that I could be one with it. It apologized that it didn't know modern Veneran. It only knew the Veneran of almost a millennia ago. Guessing that I would need instruction, my Stone probed Yggdrasil for a more modern form of Veneran. Yggdrasil happily obliged, so that our Black Stone was able to implant the 'modern' Veneran of just short of three hundred years ago in my mind. I learned enough to understand spoken Veneran, speak it myself, read, and write it. I was about to ask our Stone for any news I had missed recently. I was confident that our Stone or Yggdrasil would have told me what I needed to know for immediate action, but there was always news and newly-acquired facts which didn't seem pressing but could complete the mosaic of thoughts in my mind - the missing piece of information which could lead me to the proper conclusion or action. The thought flashed across my mine: "How could the Venerans all speak fluent modern English?' Their Black Stone was reported to not have much contact with the other subsidiary Black Stones or even with Yggdrasil. I asked our Black Stone this question.

**You raise a most delicate issue. Please don't be angry or think you have been betrayed. You know that we thinking Stones have rules which we must follow, hierarchies which we must adhere to. The Black Stone of Venera approached its sister, Yggdrasil. It said that a diplomatic mission from Venera needed to learn English and Norwegian - to read them, to write them, to speak and to understand them. Yggdrasil had no choice but to comply. Its relationship with the Veneran Black Stone is tenuous and a language request is very standard and not regarded as any sort of sensitive secret. The hard part is this: the Veneran Stone demanded that Yggdrasil keep this request secret. I, myself, only learned of it mere minutes ago, at the same instant Yggdrasil told Odin. I was going to message you, but sensed that you were approaching me.**

"If the Venerans needed English for diplomacy, why not tell me or Harry, as we were the natural diplomatic counterparts? The secrecy makes no sense."

**The initial contacts weren't to be with you. Those momentous contacts needed to be preceded by informal contacts, who had been recommended to the Venerans as a source of background information, to ease discussions with yourselves. I won't make you ask me, the stated contacts were with the ICW: Mr. Tsieh, Mr. Afshar, Publisher Cuffe, and the Norwegian Prime Minister.**

"And did the Veneran delegation meet with all of these worthies."

**Neither I nor Yggdrasil has any way of knowing the answer to that question. I knew you would be angry. I apologize on behalf of Yggdrasil - a dangerous think for me to do. Yggdrasil only suspected a problem when Odin spoke of Veneran and dark God prisoners and the need to have absolute control of the intelligence which runs Ve's fortress. At least you are less angry than Odin. Forgive Yggdrasil; promoting peace and negotiation are one of its primary duties. It needs to be an honest broker at times.**

"Thank you for your honesty. I am not angry with you. I must alert Harry to what I have learned. Hermione will visit you for language instruction and Harry will send Percy and Callista to you for the same reason. Just so you're aware, the Veneran 'delegation' included dark Gods and fifteen Venerans, including four soldiers. They built a magical circle in Norway. That circle interfered with magic as far away as southern France."

Harry was irate. He had talked to Percy about being an ambassador again. Now he would ask Percy to summon Secretary Afshar to the Ministry. Hermione contacted me via the Stone, saying she had the analysis results. **The analysis of a uniform, pure metal alloy is simple. It contains iron and boron, but the other ingredient, neodymium, is extremely rare and expensive. Uncle Reg marveled at the size of the metal block I described. His comment was a whistle, followed by 'somebody certainly isn't hurting for cash.'**

I told her everything which I had learned from our Black Stone. She replied that she was hastening to become one with it, wanting to get to it before Percy did. She'd join me in my sitting room - please leave the usual Apparation spot clear. I contacted Odin, who apparently was currently at Ve's fortress with our prisoners. He told me he had placed them in the prisoner cells.

"I'm very sorry that Yggdrasil kept its contacts with the Veneran Black Stone secret from both of us. As with the problems at the beginning of your Quest, that is the problem with Black Stones, who follow their own rules and logic. We cannot truly control them. They are far smarter and have immensely larger memories than we do. They can be a huge help to us, but they are thinking beings. It's possible to think of them as a totally benign tool for us to command, but they are far more than that. They are the ture guardians of the universe. The Light Guardian can spend only so much time in one place. It trusts the Black Stones to manage day-to-day life. Because they are made of stone, it is too easy to forget that. I think the Veneran Black Stone is malevolent. It may have been corrupted, as your Stone was, or, who knows. Yggdrasil is unhappy with itself. It would like you to visit in person, at your earliest convenience. It must be truly sorry - 'at your earliest convenience' is not a phrase I have heard from it before. We must interview the prisoners. The Venerans must be wondering what happened to them. They may possess time-sensitive information. Can you come to Ve's fortress today?"

I replied that We had learned Veneran and would like to do some translating of the mass of papers Hermione liberated from the warehouse basement, before going in cold to interview the soldiers. I mentioned Harry's idea of a diplomatic meeting with the Venerans and Vanir, suggesting that Ve's fortress might be the safest location, provided we could assure we maintained control of its intelligence. Could we wait several days to interview the prisoners?

We could wait that long, but no longer. Yes, Yggdrasil could constantly monitor the intelligence and Odin could hide himself inside the fortress as an extra layer of protection. "No, not a great inconvenience at all. The food is excellent and I have many thoughts to process. I don't think I told you this, I wasn't fully certain myself that what I received from the dark God's mind was what I so fervently hoped it was: I believe I now know how to transform into an immortal spirit form. Don't worry, I won't try to do that until all of our many problems have been vanquished. That is why I have such need for solitary thinking and will happily babysit Ve's fortress. Bring copies of the papers when you come to the fortress. I will also be interested in your translations. Do make your own translation. I know that Hermione's will be more accurate, but this is exactly the sort of task which you must focus upon to sharpen your thinking skills."

With that mild insult, Odin was gone. I had just begun to relax, when Hermione returned. We divided the work. I would scan and translate the journals. Hermione would focus upon the big pile of other papers. The first page of the first journal was headed 'Terran day one'. I immediately grabbed the last journal and found the last page with writing. It was headed 'Terran day four-hundred-and-twenty-one'. The Venerans had been on Earth for well over a year. I was so surprised that I blurted that factoid to Hermione.

"That is MOST interesting. Do you know what I find most interesting about that? Their circle has been fired up for less than a month! That means they were able to exist here without it and that they planned to stay a good while longer. It also might say that firing up the circle was a deliberate attempt to damage magic in as wide an area as they possibly could. That last is conjecture; it's far from proven."

I wanted to know what the Venerans had been up to when we captured them, but felt I ought to read through enough days at the beginning to properly orient myself. If they wrote about why they were here, the beginning of the journal was where that was most likely to be found. The first few days of writing yielded the information that this mission had started with just one soldier among a total of six Venerans. The dark Gods must have come later. The warehouse had already been rented and waiting for them, when they had arrived. The keys had been hidden on the property for them to find. The first day was setting up their sleeping and eating spaces. They then move on to the task of busting a hole in the concrete floor and starting to excavate the basement. The journal said they piled the rubble from the floor as well as the dirt and rock they dug from beneath the floor onto ever-growing piles at the far end of the warehouse. We had seen no sign of this storage - not even dirt stains on the floor.

My mind wandered and I commented to Hermione "Cissy will help truth-tell the new prisoners. It would be better if she understood Veneran. I should arrange for her to become well with our Black Stone."

"Good idea. I think you should also make arrangements for Cho and Barb. Unfortunately, I see no way of avoiding doing the same for Harry, Tony, and the Norwegian Prime Minister."

I warned our Black Stone that the Norwegian Prime Minister might not be as friendly as she seemed. There must be a reason the Venerans chose to base their spy mission in Norway. I had yet to find that reason in the journals."I asked the Black Stone to teach Veneran to her as well as the others, making the additional request that it try to determine if she already knew Veneran and if she could be trusted. My mind was awhirl, but I forced myself to calm and to continue translating. By day thirty, the Venerans were feeling worse for wear, because of the hard work, but mainly due to the shorter Earth days, which messed with their sleep. On that day two new Venerans arrived. They were both soldiers and they brought a sort of magical sled with them, which allowed one Veneran to fly for a long distance, while using built-in cameras to create pictures of what was on the ground. They thought it only safe to do this at night. They avoided full moons, or close to full. They quickly tired of surveilling Norway. They had been told about both Hogwarts and Durmstrang. On the forty-fifth day, one of the soldiers undertook to fly to Hogwarts. Since he had to spend the next day on the ground in Scotland, he didn't return with his report until day forty-seven. He had seen both Hogwarts and the magical shops in Hogsmeade. He was jubilant that this meant that Venerans were able to see through extensive magical barriers. This, and the fact that their sled actually flew, was proof that our magic was at least partially compatible with their anatomy. I made note that this was new information to them. That suggested little or no experience with Earth, prior to the current mission. I was writing down a list of key points like this. Writing out a whole translation would be very slow. I wasn't even reading every word, just skimming until something struck me as significant. I mentioned the most important of my comments to Hermione.

I was learning enough that I continued skimming and reading from the front of the journal. Day seventy was highlighted by an overflight of Durmstrang. The dirt pile was high enough that the Venerans were making as many dirt dumping flights as spy flights. On day sixty five two of the Venerans returned home with the pictures of Hogwarts and Durmstrang. They brought a query home with them: should the mission dare to overfly London and spy upon Diagon Alley and the Ministry? It was risky, but the potential reward! Day seventy one, an intrepid soldier set forth on the sled with a target of Diagon Alley. He returned on day seventy three and he was more than a little shaken. He hadn't realized how sporadic magic was over certain parts of the Thames. He had plummeted toward the water's surface, smartly guessing that the problem had something to do with the river and adjusting his path to a glide, which brought him back over land, with control of the sled. However, he was too low and thought that he must have been spotted. He thought 'I'm already here, so why not?' and did manage to overfly Diagon Alley. He failed to check out the Ministry and was forced to turn around and climb for altitude as daylight approached. He ditched in a woods, he knew not where, and returned to the warehouse the following day. He was severely buffeted as he flew over the sea, once again almost losing the sled. For the next ten days, the sled was used only to transport dirt for dumping. On day eighty five the Venerans decided to take a closer look at Durmstrang. Analysis of the pictures indicated that it was barely possible to land the sled on the roof. A soldier took off, carrying mountain climbing gear, in addition to his normal supples, so that he could climb down and back up the castle walls, if the opportunity presented itself. That soldier did not return. They had no idea what had happened to him. They were very upset. The sled wasn't just a tool, it represented freedom. The author of the journal had ridden the sled multiple times. It was just about the only times he had been outside the warehouse. The lost soldier had been a friend. The mission was a small team. They had all grown very close. The missing soldier was very skilled and very responsible. He had a radio and had been trained to communicate through Yggdrasil in extremis, but not a peep was heard from him. I thought he must have crashed and died. If so it was important that his body be found by us, before others discovered a being from another world. I chose to move to the end of the journal.

The last ten days of the journal did not reveal active plans for an attack, although there was discussion of wanting to observe what their circle did to magic on our world and how we reacted to the intrusion. I went back and read the prior ten days' history. The circle was up and running, but was deliberately kept at low power, up until twelve days from the end of the journal. Warehouse security was increased on that day. The following day, they began experimenting with various time periods for varying the circle's output. They sent out observers to check on magical strength in multiple locations. They apparently had obtained cars. They also had help in doing their measurements from "local friends, in this land and abroad."

I went back another ten days. Thirty days before the end of the journal, the dark Gods and the three elite soldiers arrived. They were to finish the circle, supervise its control. and protect it from attack. The journal really read as if they viewed an attack as inevitable. They expected to win. I got the sense that they wouldn't admit it to themselves, at least on paper, but wanted to provoke us attack them, so that they would have justification for invading us, in case the Black Stones or Aesir were very unhappy.

I stopped brousing back on day one hundred and sixty nine, when I saw that the Venerans had recovered and buried the soldiers body in a Norwegian forest and tried to fly the sled back home. It was badly damaged and crashed after only twenty miles in the air. Its pilot survived, with only a broken wrist and returned to the warehouse after three weeks of nighttime travel. He had been spotted multiple times. He had performed the Veneran version of confounding on two Norwegians, but had killed three others. I knew that the Norwegian Prime Minister needed to see this. I copied verbatim from the journal into my notes. I should mention here that our Black Stone had reported to me that it was "almost certain she didn't already know Veneran and I think she is being honest with you. It's only a small risk to trust her." I should also report that Secretary Afshar denied meeting with Venerans, but was now extremely interested in doing so. The Ministry truth-tellers were certain he did not lie. They were equally certain that Barnabas Cuffe did lie. Confronted with this evidence, Barnabas broke down and confessed to having both met with Venerans on more than one occasion and rented the warehouse. They had promised that the traditional Wizards would be their regents on Earth. He also told Harry that the initial meeting with the Venerans took place on Vanaheimer and was arranged and facilitated by Slytherin, with the help of the Veneran Black Stone. Naturally, the whole Ministry was furious. Barnabas was as bad a traitor as it was possible to be, but couldn't be tried before the Wizengamot, because the Venerans were still a secret. This is a lot of tangential background here, but I needed to explain why I trusted the Norwegian Prime Minister.

I had five pages of notes from skimming the journals. I used Witch sculpture to make seven copies. I couldn't force myself to make more. It had taken me close to two days of journal translation to reach this point.

"I've had enough," I told Hermione. "I'm ready to question the captive soldiers. Are you good to go? If so, I'll contact Harry and Odin.

Hermione showed me ten copies of her own notes. She had gone through more paper than I had; she translates very fast. Her material had been less content rich than mine and her notes covered only three pages. "Let's move ahead," she agreed.

When we contacted the others who would be present for the questioning, I got the impression that they had barely been able to restrain themselves and simply wait, while we translated. The Norwegian Prime Minister was especially riled up. Unfortunately, she was on my contact list. "You've left me in an awful position. The media want more information about the warehouse. What can I say, when I don't know what new evidence will turn up. The interviews of the soldiers might have given me the background information which I so badly need. What can you tell me?"

"One of the soldiers crashed the sled and had to wander back to the warehouse with a broken wrist. He couldn't avoid being spotted and killed three Norwegians who had seen him. The journal I translated says where the bodies were buried, but I'm not sure how easy it will be to reckon the location from the information the journalist provided."

That silenced her. I heard only a sharp intake of breath, then the connection was broken.

Harry was wonderfully calm, when I told him we were ready to deal with the prisoners. Hermione and I had kept him regularly updated on what we translated. He fully agreed that the questioning would be far more effective if we had knowledge of the Venerans' own record of their mission. Harry wasn't surprised when I gave him the latest result about the murdered Norwegians. "I assumed there must have been some killing, as soon as you told me how much they were out and about. They didn't have a whole auror core plus the help of the local government to cover up lapses in whatever precautions they took to be invisible. You know how active our aurors have been in confounding nonmagical Britons. They were in Norway for almost two years. Of course they resorted to murder. It wouldn't surprise me if it was more than three. Individuals soldiers would be reluctant to report a killing to the civilian leader of the mission."

Sent from Mail for Windows 10


	54. Chapter 54

**Chapter 54 – The Elite Soldiers**

Odin wanted all of us to arrive at Ve's fortress by late afternoon on the day before we were scheduled to question the three elite Veneran soldiers, whom our aurors had captured in the basement of the warehouse. "If it were just you and Hermione, even Cissy, you could come at any time and we could start the interrogations at once. But, with so many politicians being present, we must plan. There will be more politicians than you realise. I need to talk to you about that. I brought back so many Aesir from their temporary world, that the government of Asgard is once again fully functional. I am expected to explain my major actions and seek approval prior to acting. It is a big change. You, Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Cissy must be here at noon. We will discuss, then you must bring the others from your world and we will discuss again. I promise you all your favorite foods for lunch. Please!"

Odin's message was most worrisome. I didn't make an error in journaling his message - it did not come via Yggdrasil or our Black Stone. It was the Godly equivalent of Harry and my whisper channel, but with a vastly different timbre. Odin gave no indication of his physical location. For all I knew, he could be in Hogsmeade. Also, it was two minutes before eleven, when Odin made this invitation. He must already be on our world acquiring food supplies. Why all the secrecy? Why not meet here if he was on Earth? Clearly, he was overly concerned about something. I worried why he was so concerned, but hastened to gather up Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Cissy. I wanted at least a few minutes to chat together, before joining Odin. The urgency of his request had more than a tinge of panic to it. I didn't want to be surprised by a serious surprise with Tony, and the Norwegian Prime Minister being present. There also would be somebody from the ICW. I didn't know who that would be. Harry had yet to clear Secretary Afshar, although he leaned in that direction.

Perhaps I should have given more information when I summoned Ron and Harry, because they showed up with the Bad Dude. Not at all what I had in mind! "I know you wanted Ron and me to come alone, but with so many governments involved, I have to act as Minister and insist upon involving the broader Wizarding community. I won't have it said that we acted only in our own self-interest at this critical a moment. I brought Cissy because she also was invited to lunch with Odin."

"I certainly did not intend to act in our own self-interest," I responded with more than a little heat, causing Harry to halt in his approach for a welcome snog and take a step back."

"I know you would never do that," Harry placated me, "but all of the Wizarding world needs to recognise that. You are not Mother of the Future, only for British or only for Western European Wizards. We have been more open. Going it alone so much raises suspicions, unwarranted suspicions, but not at all to be unexpected if we continue to be as secretive as we've been. I'm not blaming you. I've done it too. Ron, McGonagall, and I were just talking about this when you contacted us. I still don't fully trust Secretary Afshar, not nearly enough to write-off the prisoner's mention of his name as one of their supporters on this world. They had no direct evidence against him, but I thought it best to bring the Dude, instead."

"And I am here in the spirit of cooperatively attacking a serious problem," The Dude reinforced Harry's statement. "Britain hasn't exactly been known for its team play in the international Wizard community. We have a chance to not make a bad situation worse. Please trust me. I can help you. My community is not without resources. Now please explain the situation in more detail than Harry could provide. We don't have much time until we meet Odin for lunch."

What do you do with a foreigner who just knows he can crash a God's dinner party? Apparently, nothing. With Harry's help, he had already spoken to Odin and self-invited. I guess my sense of affront showed, because the Bad Dude more attacked me, than defended himself: "I know you've fixed circles in other nations, but apart from the more extensive time you've spent in Greece, you really have no experience and very little knowledge of any nation other than Britain. Even there, you know mainly just the magical community. Your experience with the greater world of Britain, let alone the greater world, is limited. You are the definition of insular. What you need to recognise is that there are many more powerful and influential nations on this world than Britain. The most powerful and influential is the one you refer to as the 'friends across the pond', whom you seemed determined to keep in the dark, for no better reason than that's what your Tony wants. Your husband was completely right in reaching out to me as the leader of the magical community of the United States of America. There are as many sort-of magical people in America as in Britain. We are far less magical, but then we lack a working magical circle. You could have remedied that problem, but somehow, we've fallen way, way down your list of priorities. We need a circle! You can build one without reading our government in on the plan, but I do think a few, carefully selected people in the non-magical government should be read in. I won't push on including Dubya. We have an election coming up soon. Perhaps my guy will win. It really is silly to leave an exit from the ribbon between worlds unprotected because Tony has convinced you that we 'friends across the pond' are sooo scary. You all suspect Secretary Afshar now, so it was very natural that Harry turned to me. Now can we please get down to business?"

I really didn't know what to say. Including the Bad Dude was more properly Harry's call than mine. Much of what Hermione and I had been doing was properly Ministry work, basically auror and Percy realm. We had a very friendly Ministry. Harry had allowed me and my Questors a huge amount of discretion and action. Why was I so jealous when my husband acted as Minister of Magic, without my permission? I just said "fine, let's get down to business." Perhaps I could and should have sounded and felt more positive, but I felt both slighted and ambushed.

"I'm sure you've noticed that the reason so many people and peoples distrust you, is that they link you with Odin and Frijjo," the Dude challenged me. "It is not a completely unfair reading to conclude that you have acted as their agent. That's what I'd think if I were a suspicious Vanir or Veneran, who had nursed a grudge against Odin my entire life. You are seen as a threat, rather than as potential friend. Percy is not wrong about that. What does that mean for now? First, it means that we all must think of what is best for our world. Odin has been a help. He has taught you and Hermione a lot, but his interests aren't the same as yours and ours. I take it he didn't consult you prior to doubling the population of Aesir on Asgard. That's going to cause a lot of change. Harry's told me that Odin was considering leaving you in charge of Asgard. You can forget that, now. Second, we must forge our own, independent relationships with the other worlds. They must think of us as independent Terrans who are their equal, not unimportant inhabitants of a minor, savage world who are puppet soldiers of Frijjo and Odin. Odin has laid you and, by connection all of us, out front in his battles, while he plans to leave the field at some unspecified time. Asgard itself will soon be in political turmoil. How could it be otherwise, when Odin has just doubled its population with the descendants of the old Aesir residents of Asgard - people who have had millennia to establish their own culture and government. Are they an invasion force or nostalgic Aesir who longed to return to their ancestral home world - although from what I've been told, Venera could equally well be regarded as their ancestral home."?

"I'm happy to go to lunch with Odin, but surprised that I am one of only five invited?" Cissy commented.

"That is strange and more than a little troubling," Harry responded, before I could speak. "You are one of the three truth-tellers he is familiar with. Perhaps he has some special truth-telling requirements. I don't think we should get involved with truth-telling the other new leaders of the revived Asgard government. With Odin leaving soon, they will run the place and we don't want them to suspect that we side against them."

"No, we don't." Hermione also spoke, before I could get a word out.

We had fifteen minutes before we had to travel to Ve's fortress and lunch with Odin. I insisted that Hermione and I must take that time to meet in private with Harry and Ron. The Dude volunteered to explore our garden and say hello to an Elf or Goblin if one was in sight. Cissy said that she would keep him company.

"Why would you bring the Bad Dude, without warning?" My question fully conveyed my displeasure.

"Why would you order Ron and me to a pre-meeting without explaining what situation caused Odin to so abruptly summon us?"

"First, I don't know. Odin didn't say. I assume he plans to explain over lunch. Second, I assumed that the four of us would discuss what it might mean, among just ourselves."

"The likeliest reasons are problems on Asgard or Odin planning to leave as a spirit. That raises a lot of problems. You and Hermione are now Odin's greatest and most loyal pals. What if he wants you to fly off as a spirit with him? You said that he just learned how to accomplish that. I don't want you to become a spirit."

"I don't like that either," Ron chimed in. "you really haven't told us all that much about what you are learning from Odin and Yggdrasil. You just mentioned that Odin has learned to become spirit."

"We would never go spirit without the two of you," Hermione gasped. "I wouldn't even consider such a thing for at least a hundred years, probably closer to a hundred and fifty. I know I speak for Ginny as well as myself: we have no desire to roam the universe as fellow spirits with Odin. Odin has had an exceptionally long life in his body. We've had a little less than twenty years. That's not close to being enough. We must be mothers to fulfill our prophecies. I don't know how you boys came to such a baseless fear."

"Secrets!" Ron proclaimed portentously. "Way too many secrets."

"A much likelier reason for the urgent meeting is that Odin's fellow Aesir are not happy that Odin gifted me all of the land surrounding the pyramid on Asgard. That is a very strategic, and likely sacred, piece of ground."

The boys seemed way too relieved when I said that. After all, I was stating a potentially quite serious problem.

Even though the six of us arrived at Ve's fortress almost five minutes early, Odin looked extremely impatient. This was reinforced by his "Good, you're finally here.! We must talk, but please, let's do it over a fine lunch. Sometimes a well satisfied stomach settles the mind."

We took the elevator up to the penthouse apartment. Odin quickly got us seated, then ushered in a procession of walking machines and Elves bearing food and drink. The food did smell wonderful. There were plates and utensils at each spot around the table and the food and drinks were placed in the center, so that we each could serve ourselves. I loaded my plate, following the aromas which most struck my fancy in my current mood. My current mood was worried and still residually annoyed at Harry. That drove me toward spicy. There were three varieties of crab cakes. I chose the one which smelled like it would burn a hole through my gullet. It came with a hot sauce. It tasted good, although it left my mouth and throat burning. I was drinking some milk to quench the fire when Odin raised the first topic.

"I want you to have the land around the pyramid. In fact, I want you to have a bit more land and for Hermione and Cissy to each have a plot, as your neighbours. Problem is you're an absentee. Your land houses the two adult Unicorns, who have now added two juveniles. But you don't have a house on the property and you've only camped there for about four days out of the past more than a year. The Aesir newcomers know that. They want to see the land farmed and used. If not by you, then by me or themselves. I think they prefer that they themselves farm it. Please build houses. I know how popular Harry was when he offered land to young Wizard families. Perhaps some young families would like to tenant farm parts of your property. I told the new Aesirs that you have been busy serving me and them. You helped me save their ancestors. I said I had already promised more land to your group. I'm increasing Ginny's plot by half and giving the same amount of land to Hermione, Cissy, and Cho. I'd gladly do the same for Adrienne, but I doubt she wants to come to Asgard. I'll have to find another way to reward and recompense her."

That was certainly a surprise - not at all what I had feared, although it was also clear that Odin had other topics he wanted to discuss. We all agreed to take Odin up on his generous offer. Harry said he would relay the offer to those from the past year's Hogwarts graduating class, who didn't currently have jobs. It could be important to them. No job and no land often meant no marriage. Harry was enthusiastic about the idea, telling Odin "I think I can have a dozen settler families on Asgard within a month."

The Dude chimed in that he would encourage American Wizard families to consider a new life on Asgard. "This actually solves a serious problem I've been grappling with. The ruse we played on our nonmagical government led to them identifying five families of Witches, who have been in hiding, fearing for their lives. Only four of the five families are magical, but I've been helping them all. I don't know how long they can stay hidden. This might be their only hope."

Odin seemed surprised by how well discussion of his initial topic had gone. "That's great! My next topic is trickier. I told you that thoughts I had gleaned from the mind of the dark God, whom we killed, seemed to give me the final piece of knowledge I needed to become spirit. I have thought deeply on that subject and am now absolutely convinced that I was right. I could transform tomorrow. Don't panic! I said could, not would. I won't even consider abandoning you until our pressing problems have been solved and our worlds seem on a happy, self-sustaining trajectory. I want to teach you what is required to become a disembodied God."

Harry and Ron both stiffened. I covered my surprise and concern by refilling my plate with an Asgard steak and vegetables from several worlds. Odin immediately sensed a problem. "I neither want nor expect you to make use of this knowledge anytime soon. You have an obligation to your prophecies and a need to experience a full and happy natural life. Your more magically skilled and disciplined Witches can easily live to a hundred-and-fifty. With the new charging circles, there is no reason, if you avoid unnecessary fights, that you can't live well past two hundred. That's what I want for you. That's what I need from you as my successors. But... it's knowledge you must have should you decide that two hundred years is insufficient to learn all that you wish and to accomplish all that you must. I'm not leaving you tomorrow but am very sure I'll be gone in ten of your years. This is valuable information, and this may be your only chance to learn it. You will save all the time I spent hanging and wandering and experimenting, only to serendipitously discover what I needed

when I participated in one of your many battles. I can tell both of your husbands fear you will desert them. I know you would never do this. With half a moment's thought, they also will realise this. This offer is for them, and your close friends, as well as for the two of you. I don't need an answer for perhaps a month. Please: just think about it."

Harry broke the silence, telling Odin "yes, on that basis, I can see the wisdom of that training. We can be the almost-living memories of future magical generations after we no longer live. That has value."

Odin, looking very relieved, quickly jumped to the next topic he had broached: "Yes, you heard me correctly. I still wish that you be my successors. All your group have important future roles to play. That includes members of the other magical communities on your world. You are learning and inventing so rapidly. So much vitality among your people! I know I took you by surprise when I just doubled the population of Asgard, without discussing that decision with you. I felt it must be done, lest the Aesir on Asgard perish. The population has become critically small and the thinking very stagnant and darkly twisted. The new arrivals are the same stock, but with much greater diversity. You add more. More diversity of thought than of genetics, but both are needed. Vili wasn't entirely wrong about the importance of Adrienne's child, although that sort of thing can only be done with no secrets and full consent. The downside is too great, otherwise. I know Adrienne fears coming to Asgard, but there would be value in her raising her son here. I won't push. I won't push you to persuade her. At some time... I beg the opportunity of a calm discussion with Adrienne. Her son really is important. Vili was wrong that the child must spend all its time on Asgard. In fact, her son must attend Hogwarts. I know this is a very sore subject. Again, I can only beg you: please think about it. Discuss it among yourselves. I'm not suggesting you include Adrienne in those discussions. Wait until you have made up your own minds and we have spoken again. I think I have captured Vili's prophecy. I'll share it with you, when next we discuss this. Cheer up! I have many fine desserts for you."

The Elves appeared with a wide variety of desserts, whose recipes, and likely ingredients as well, were from our world. "Please try the pumpkin mousse. It's my own creation. I've seen how much pumpkin juice you drink, and I know how much you love spices."

Knowing that Odin had spoken directly to me, how could I refuse a taste of the mousse. It smelled great and tasted better. He had found a way to make it super smooth and both creamy and airy. While I savored my dessert, Odin relaunched the prior topic. "My people are reforming our government, but the old form doesn't seem to serve the present need at all well. Those I brought to this world from the New Asgard were not politicians. They were farmers, for the most part. I asked for volunteers at a bad time: there had been several years of drought. Whole villages volunteered to come to Asgard. They were self-governing clans, with loose ties to the main government and didn't cooperate a lot with their neighboring villages. We Aesir have always been far too clannish. Now here they are, not wishing to change their old ways. They don't remember what it was like to live upon my Asgard. They also don't get along well with my fellow Aesir on Asgard, who expect them to behave like normal Aesir of Asgard. The two sides can't agree upon a new government and, as I'm sure you noticed, the old government isn't much more than me and the leaders of a few old noble families, half of whom feud with me and the families that support me. We are all wary of Sigrun and her Valkyrie. I know you don't have a long history with her, but I tell you she has changed. She is not just disobedient; she is defiant. I'm convinced she intended to rule Asgard after I left. She can't abide the thought that I will wander as spirit, rather than die a warrior's death and pass on to Valhalla. She views it as abandonment and betrayal. I apologise for leaving her to you."

I switched to a Creme Brûlée, as Odin switched to the topic of interviewing the elite soldiers. "I've studied everything that Yggdrasil knows about the caste that these captive soldiers belong to. They are by far the best fighters among the Veneran. They are the most magical. They also have nonmagical weapons. They also are the only soldiers who get involved in Veneran politics and the only who commune with the Black Stone of Venera. This is most important: the leader of the three has communicated with Yggdrasil - almost forty of your years ago and again barely a week before the three traveled to your world. The Black Stone of Venera arranged and facilitated that meeting. It took some convincing, but Yggdrasil finally agreed that the extreme circumstances in which we find ourselves compel it to put aside the normal pledge of confidentiality, which Yggdrasil quite deliberately did not convey, and to tell me of its conversation with this particular Veneran.

"I will tell you everything I learned, but first I give you this question to think on: how did your aurors capture these three with so little difficulty, as if they were Hogwarts first years. The Venerans are very sturdily built and quite thick of skin. Cursing a Veneran is very much like cursing Hagrid, or even a full-sized Giant. A standard curse would have little impact. My tentative conclusion is two-fold. Either your aurors surprised them by using an unusual attack, or... they wanted to be captured. These elite soldiers have far more pride than even the normal stubborn Veneran of the soldier caste. Surrender is total anathema. I doubt they can wave a flag of truce and announcing that they wish to parlay. However, I do believe that they wanted to negotiate with your people.

"Szilard, that is the name of the elite soldier leader, wanted to know about your world when he spoke with Yggdrasil so many years ago. He explained to Yggdrasil that this was not idle curiosity, but serious academic study. He was researching one of the most significant Veneran prophecies, one in which your world figured prominently - at least in Szilard's mind. You see, Szilard had interpreted the prophecy as referring to the ribbon between the worlds and Terra's position on that ribbon, relative to Venera. He said that what he was discovering said that his world and yours were inextricably linked and that it was vitally important that a serious person, such as himself, assure that first contact did not permanently shove the futures of both worlds along an undesirable path. He demanded secrecy, stating that there were others on Asgard, and perhaps Vanaheimer, who would push the future in that bad direction. He used different words, but Yggdrasil was certain he spoke of seid. Szilard assured Yggdrasil that he wasn't asking it to betray me. I wasn't the malefactor in question, but that individual was close to me and I might reveal too much in verbally challenging that person, were I to find out. Before you ask - no I don't know the prophecy in question. No, I don't know whether Szilard referred to Frijjo, one of my brothers, or an Aesir clan rival. Ve already was locked in his fortress for a long time, but the Venerans didn't have up-to-date knowledge of any of the other worlds.

"Yggdrasil told him about the Voldemort war - the first Voldemort war. I, but mainly Frijjo and Vili, visited your world at that time. We all gave reports to Yggdrasil. I know that I was both honest and detailed in my reports. I don't know about the other two. I always had birds on your world. Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, as well as Durmstrang were always watched. For some reason, I never saw a great need to surveil the Beauxbatons area, after Dumbledore captured Grindelwald. Yggdrasil gave a summary of some of that information to Szilard. He was certainly told of both Grindelwald and Voldemort. Yggdrasil now believes that was a mistake. It gave a false impression of your community. Szilard was told about both Dumbledore and Snape. For some reason McGonagall and the Ministers of Magic weren't mentioned.

"That's all I know about the original inquiry. In the most recent discussion with Yggdrasil

, Szilard wanted to know about Harry Potter, and Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Cho, Viktor, Cissy, McGonagall, Neville, and former Minister Weasley. He must have picked up all those names from Frijjo or Vili. I find it more significant that he didn't inquire about Lucius Malfoy or Lord Montaigne, or really any of the Death Eater crowd. He knew they were all off the board. He did ask about Narcissa Malfoy. He pressed Yggdrasil very strongly for information about her. Yggdrasil mentioned that Narcissa had a son, Draco, but Szilard was uninterested. He then asked about Little Erin. That's exactly what he called her. He also received most of the little information I knew and had passed on to Yggdrasil about Tony. For some reason, Szilard wanted to know about the Norwegian Prime Minister. He knew the Prime Minister was a woman and that seemed important to him. I have no guess why. That's it. Yggdrasil gave only the most basic background biographical information. You can ask me questions, but I have no further information or answers. Perhaps you'll have more luck than I did in squeezing detail from Yggdrasil. The Stones play by their own rules. If honour demands that secrets be kept, secrets will be kept. Yggdrasil was most uneasy about telling me even that much."

We thanked Odin for the update. We went off to our rooms. I wanted a wash up and a lie down, but we could discuss what we had heard, without Odin knowing for certain that this is what we were doing and having no way to monitor what we said. The Black Stone rules worked in our favor in this instance. We mainly discussed whether Hermione or I needed to travel to Asgard and become one with Yggdrasil, so that we knew more about Szilard and his quest for knowledge about us, before we attempted to question him. Harry was adamant that initial questioning was crucial and that we had to make the most of it. Catching Szilard off-guard gave us the greatest chance of extracting information from him. If he was, as reputed, more magical and more disciplined than the other Venerans whom we had questioned, then it was doubtful that either Hermione's spiked Veritaserum or our collective truth-telling skills would prevail over his training and yield the information we wanted. This made sense to me. Hermione and Ron quickly supported Harry. I was glad that the Dude was off in his own apartment. I wanted the strategy we followed to be our strategy. Hermione suggested that she should be the one to visit Yggdrasil, while I met with the Prime Ministers - the Mother carried more weight with the Ministers, while she carried at least equal weight with Yggdrasil. She quickly apologised for the "at least equal" part, explaining "Yggdrasil has always seen Mothers and Muses as different but equal, and besides, Yggdrasil and I just think very much alike."

I agreed but couldn't help wondering why Hermione would think I was so sensitive about that qualifier. I couldn't deny that those words had raised my hackles, the first time she spoke them. I told her "you'll have to leave almost immediately, but I should message Odin first. Yggdrasil will tell him what we're up to and he may take offence." Hermione nodded yes, so I contacted Odin through the fortress's intelligence. It was also a way of making certain that the intelligence would speak to and obey me. Odin objected to the proposal.

"Yggdrasil won't tell you anything it didn't tell me. I take your point about the importance of being as prepared as possible for the initial questioning, but Yggdrasil has its own rules and won't bend them for either of us. The only way to get more information is to give it more information and be able to lay out the urgency of the situation more clearly. We need to question the prisoners to get that information. We'll just have to hope that a second questioning with more information from Yggdrasil will work. We really have no other choice."

Hermione took this news as not a great surprise. We had time for a rest, before we had to meet Tony, the Norwegian Prime Minister, Neville, Shacklebolt, and Percy. As I greeted the new arrivals a bad thought raced through my mind: what if Szilard had surrendered to get all of us together in one room, so that he could kill all of us at once. I voiced this concern. Odin thought we would be perfectly safe. He had scanned Szilard for internal bombs and didn't think he had enough magical ability to kill any of us before we subdued him. The fortress's magical force was tuned to our needs, not Szilard's. Szilard didn't have his handheld wand array. He acknowledged the need to be especially on guard - just in case. We should set up the interrogation room such that we could almost instantly have two special weapons teams ready to fire upon Szilard, should that be required. He would keep his Godly force on hair-trigger alert. That satisfied me and the others.

The rest of the quite long pre-meeting and dinner were required to bring the newcomers up to speed on strategy and what we had learned. The Norwegian Prime Minister was very disturbed to learn of Szilard's interest in her. Her face told the tale, but complained "why me? Why Norway? What possible difference can it make that I am female?"

I was caught by surprise when Odin immediately responded "probably prophecy. We must learn what prophecy is driving Szilard. I think we need a Unicorn present for the questioning."

Pegasus was transported by Hermione and me. By the time we returned, Odin had moved Szilard to the penthouse. "I waited for you to awaken our honored guest. I do suspect that he will become more guest than prisoner."

Once Odin had released Szilard from his magical sleep, the first words out of Szilard's mouth were "finally! I've waited so long to speak to all of you. I ran tremendous risk to set up this most unusual meeting. My government would not approve of my action. Let me be clear from the start: this is my play and my play alone. My fellow Imperial Warriors had no knowledge of what I planned. I not so subtly prevented them from defending themselves when you attacked us. I am relieved that your attack was not meant to kill. Now, where am I?"

I was relieved that the Black Stones had done such an excellent job of teaching us Veneran. This guy did not tone down his vocabulary for ease of understanding, but I understood everything he said, just as if he spoke modern English.

Odin told him he was in a magical fortress, built by his youngest brother upon a dead world.

"Aha! The prophecy comes alive! Now tell me, is this the place where you imprisoned Ve? The place where he died? Ambiguously of your hand, but with a push from another?"

"Yes, that is so, but you could have been told all of that."

"Could I have been told that you did undeniably kill Vili inside this fortress?"

"Yes, and I'm not sure how you could have learned of that, but it is possible, since I told some of these Terrans and I am sensing thought stealing by you."

"Yes, I am what your Terran guests call a Legilimens. I am, in fact, very adept at that skill. I assure you that I gleaned this information not from any of the minds assembled here, but rather from a most exacting deciphering of ancient prophecy. Prophesying, which probably not so humbly, I believe deals with myself, although the prophecies in question are incredibly old. They existed before my great greats breathed air. Let me ask you this: Vili's companion, the one who betrayed you both sexually and politically - she too is dead and not by accident, age, disease, or the hand of thinking biped. She was felled by the bite of the eight-legged."

"Yes, but I don't doubt that your spies or your discussion with Yggdrasil revealed that information. She was bitten by an Acromantula guard."

"It is as it was foretold, all praise be to the multi-spirit Godhood."

Harry, unwisely in my view, interrupted this exchange, demanding to know how we fit into this Veneran prophecy.

"Most directly, I assure you. I believe that with your help, I can be the salvation of my people and you of your peoples. I am especially interested in the Mother and Muse. I take it you are Mother, and you are Muse." He pointed first at me and then at Hermione.

"Why are you so certain that I'm not the Muse?" I blurted.

"I'm sorry. I read a great defensiveness in your mind. I truly do not wish to anger you, but you just don't look like a great thinker to me."

"You do anger her," Hermione spoke for me. "I think it best that you stop playing games and get on with telling us what the prophecies say. Then we can all converse more productively. Just recite it. I'll record it. Then you can explain your interpretation and we can decide whether your interpretation seems reasonable. But first, where does this prophecy come from, how did you encounter it, and what makes you think it possibly applies to you and to us."

"The prophecy is not new, but it was misunderstood. It goes back..." He gave a length of time equivalent to 2953 of our years. "A major Veneran religion was built upon this prophecy. That religion has all but disappeared. Its followers were disappointed that the prophecy, which was such a huge part of how they identified their place in the universe, failed to unfold as they expected. All assumed the prophecy would resolve within a generation, three at the very most. After more than two thousand Terran years, most Venerans deemed it a false prophecy, but it was recorded and passed down by historians and those who still followed that old religion. My own religion, a very minor one in the eyes of most Venerans, gave some credence to the prophecy. I studied it as both a religious scholar and a military historian. The memes that shape a people are taken very seriously by the Imperial Warriors. That's a reason we studied you. The Potter-Voldemort Prophecy is well known among our ranks. It is taught in military school, dissected word-by-word, as are the major prophecies still in circulation on Asgard and Vanaheimer. I found a copy of a very ancient version of our Veneran prophecy in a government library basement. More importantly, I found scraps of that same version of our prophecy in a religious library of our group. It had been forgotten. The key points are that the prophecy was nearly five thousand of your years old. The original form differed slightly from the version in mass circulation. More importantly, the actual age of the prophecy led to a different possible interpretation. That was my main breakthrough.

"Here is what I learned."


	55. Chapter 55

**Chapter 55 - What Are We To Make of This Veneran 'Prophecy'**

Szilard wasted no time. He set the stage with this explanation: "The prophecy I am about to recite for you developed over a week of sleep visions in the mind of Alaskis, one of our greatest leaders from the early days of the dark times. He is still remembered well as one who did the best he could and made our people's lives a little bit better, allowed them to be a little prouder and happier. I have studied this prophecy sufficiently to have it fully committed to memory. I know that your muse believes in the branch of knowledge which your people call science, so I brought precious samples of the ancient scrolls with me. They are most fragile. Now, to begin."

[I will insert my own apology here. I have translated the Veneran to the best of my ability. Hermione and Odin have checked my work and perfected it. This still does little justice to the original. Poetry cannot be translated. One loses either meaning or meter and rhyme. Since we are interested in the content of the prophecy, I have focused exclusively upon meaning. It's not even possible to accurately translate Veneran. Although the Black Stones provided me a mental image of the Borak, the principle farm animal of the Venerans, that told me nothing about how the Venerans view these animals. What they feel about them. A Briton and a Hindu think of cattle very differently. A Hogwarts graduate and a home-schooled British Witch think of a flying broom very differently. I've played Quidditch for Hogwarts and for the Harpies, used my broom to fly to London, to dump the remnants of Voldemort's ghost into the ocean, and even just for a whooping joy ride. My broom has a lot of emotional meaning for me. I have never thought of my wand in the same way since I have killed with it. Even within the same culture, one's lived experience matters to the emotional meaning of words and objects. Even with the best of Stone training, communication between magical peoples of different worlds is bound to be fraught, even with the best of intent. As for the style of the prophecy itself, I will only report that it was quite different from the prophecies I was used to and that the words were beautiful, as Szilard spoke them to us. I was instantly transported to his world, knowing in my heart that he totally believed what he recited to us.]

**"The Veneran Prophecy**

Our poor, dear Venera, oldest and best of the sentient worlds

Home to the first thinking bipeds of Yggdrasil's realm

You, as we, lie old, tired, and stripped of due respect.

Bowed by those who feared and misunderstood your greatness

How long must our realm's greatest minds slumber?

What good pride and honor when there is nothing to be proud of?

How long must we look back in envy of our father's fathers?

Where has our strongest magic gone? What are we without it?

Who or what oppresses us so? Why? Why? Why!

If there was serious error, it was not ours

You sit, grieve, and wait - for something or someone

To ignite change; to make whole what was rent.

Our Black Stone is wrongly shunned by its mother

The enforced silence destroys its sanity

Where is the almost magical queen-leader of the north?

She whose sympathy can order a favourable holy mission

Our fate is set by the holy missions of other worlds

Whether they travel here or to our sister worlds

A mission of awful consequence did blight our path

A brighter one will free us and light our future

Free us from our oppressors and from ourselves

They will ken our virtue and restore our ancient rights

Wash away the blight of past aggressions and bring harmony

Restore the place of the priestess and honour of soldier caste

Strange creatures will launch us to a brighter future

Striking from hiding in the realm of the thinking space

A beast of eight legs wipes away the most awful Mother

Replaces her with a brave and helpful another

The bad Mother's mate dared to build a new world

Thought himself the mightiest God

He failed but built a palace in the cold, dark void

He suffered, perhaps died at the hand of his godly brother

The brother who surely murdered the third sibling

That death hidden forever within the world of dark void

Was written upon his soul from before his birth

He walked the whole realm, but could not escape this curse

He can only hope that the good Mother will save him

One Mother had to die, as two Mothers may not live at once

Only she who survives must be the true one

Blessed be if she is the kindly new one

We cannot move on till this red-haired new one comes

She cometh from our next-door neighbour

Along with her most wise Muse, she is our saviour

Her mate has vanquished a long and darkest night

But only she can bring new light and eternal peace

A son, of us, shall bring Mother and Muse to our aid

A learned religious scholar with a soldier's courage

Only his telling of our tale will make them weep at our plight

For this service, our most perfect Priestess shall be his mate.

But he will not rule over us. We will never be dominated again

New female blood from the Mother's world will restore us

We will thwart the brothers' plan and steal from the oppressors

This vital new blood we need to redeem ourselves. Salvation!

So, it is written. So, it shall be.

"That's it. It was my world's most powerful prophecy for almost two millennia. A meme of future salvation to comfort a defeated people. It held my people together through very troubled times. Eventually, they gave up and stopped waiting for the prophecy to unfold. Since then, the dark has risen. We even welcomed the dark Gods. My people needed a new source of hope. Any source of hope was better than none. What do you think?"

"That sounds more like a poetic lament, than a prophecy," Hermione mused. "It's also rather long for a prophecy."

"It is our way. I must pity those who only prophesy in prose. But you diverted me from my tale. Here is the second version of the prophecy. I'll explain them both together, then you will understand our plight."

**The Alternative Prophecy**

Our poor, dear Venera, oldest and best of the sentient worlds

Where God created the first thinking people

You, as we, lie old, tired, and stripped of due respect.

Bowed by those who feared and misunderstood your greatness

How long must the greatest minds slumber?

What good pride and honour when there is nothing to be proud of?

How long must we look back in envy of our father's fathers?

Where has our strongest magic gone? Who stole it from us?

What have we done to merit such oppression? Why? Why? Why!

We know in our minds and hearts that we are blameless.

You sit, grieve, and wait for they who will give what you need to defeat Asgard.

To wage war; to regain that which is rightfully ours.

Yggdrasil was tricked into abandoning our Black Stone

Our sad Black Stone is left powerless to save us

Where is the almost magical queen-leader of the north

She whose sympathy can order a favourable quest mission

Our fate is set by the quest missions of other worlds

Whether they travel here or to our sister worlds

A mission of awful consequence did blight our path

A brighter one, not Asgard sponsored, will light our future

Free us from Asgard's dark and unjustified oppression

Their awe of our virtue will convince them to restore our ancient rights

Wash away the shame of past aggressions

Restore the priestess and her soldier mate to their place of honor

Strange creatures will clear the way for our future

Striking from hiding in the realm of the thinking space

A beast of eight legs wipes away the awful Mother and her work

Replaces her with a brave and helpful another

The bad Mother's ally dared to build a new world for them

Thought it fit him as such a mighty God

He failed but built a palace in the void, wherein they dwelt

He perhaps killed by his jealous, less-Godly brother

Who surely murdered their sibling, who sought to save us?

One Mother had to die, for two Mothers may not live at once

She who survives must be the true one

Blessed be if she is the new one

We cannot move on till the new one comes with burning hair

She cometh from our nearest neighbour

Along with her Muse, she is our saviour

Her mate can vanquish darkest night

But only she can bring new light and our victory

A son, of us, shall bring them to our aid

A brave soldier who stole the Priestess's magic

Only he will find our saviours and convince them of our plight

Our most perfect Priestess shall be his mate."

"That's more than slightly different," Hermione commented. "It is much more militaristic propaganda. I will be surprised if you fail to identify the first version you recited as the ancient prophecy which you rediscovered."

"You are, of course correct. Would you like to hear my interpretation and how I link it to yourselves and current events?'

Of course, we all wanted to hear his explanation. We wanted to hear it at once.

"The prophecy being much older than previously thought is key to my interpretation. That allows Frijjo's failed Quest to be the one referred to in the prophecy. It fits for her to be the awful Mother, because she truly was awful and because she operated a lot in seid space and was the mate of Odin's brothers. The alternatives never made a lot of sense. The previously accepted failed Quest was one from your world. It did fail. The Mother was taken captive on Vanaheimer. That Quest continued to Venera, led by the Muse, who died on our world. The other worlds claimed that we murdered her. We did not. She died an accidental death, crushed beneath a falling stone inside our Black Stone pyramid. Upon hearing this news, the Vanir instantly released the Mother and all the other worlds blamed and punished ours for the total failure of the Quest - Vanaheimer and Venera were its first two stops! It seems as if it was planned, to damage our people. Please don't press me for the details of that Quest from your world. We can talk about it later. It isn't important at all to my interpretation of the prophecy."

"I must say two things," I interrupted him. "If it was planned, then one of the other worlds must have caused the accident which killed the Muse - it could even have been someone from your world or a Quest team member, since they would have easiest access to the pyramid. Second, I've researched past Quests from my world and found no record of this one. Strange, don't you think?'

"Possibly strange, but unfortunate events tend to be deliberately forgotten. Moving on with my interpretation: Venerans were the first thinking humans in what Odin now refers to as his realm. We were the first thinking beings. It is likely that those from our world settled the others. My very long-ago ancestors may even have built Yggdrasil, after settling upon Asgard. That explains the great similarity in appearance of all the peoples of Yggdrasil's realm. I know we look the most different, but that is a result of the large weight of our world."

"No, that seems unlikely in the extreme," Hermione interrupted. "Do you have fossils of the predecessors on the evolutionary path to your kind? We do on my world - a very complete fossil record. There is no question that we evolved on Terra. Furthermore, you've ignored the word 'biped'. To me, that clearly means that you weren't the first intelligent beings on Venera. You were just the first biped intelligent beings. The first intelligent beings in Yggdrasil's realm may have been the Acromantula. Finally, we know from talking to the Yggdrasil of a very long time ago, that it did not always reside on Asgard. It originally was sited on a faraway world and had to relocate when that world's core grew too cold. None of the peoples of Odin's realm created Yggdrasil. They all found it at various points in time. We will have to ask Yggdrasil what the inhabitants of its original world looked like It is possible that your prophecy is correct in saying that your Black Stone was the first. Yggdrasil may have established it here, prior to moving itself to Asgard. The Black Stone is likely why Venera, the world, as opposed to Venerans is said to be sentient."

"it would have helped if Yggdrasil had told me of its change of home world. Anyhow, the early part of the prophecy tells of a fallen Venera, in which magic is all but dead. It say Venera and its magic were once strong, something to be truly proud of. I deduce that the magical circles somehow failed after Yggdrasil cut off our Black Stone. Perhaps our Stone was forced to sleep. I gather from Yggdrasil that this is possible. The circle within our Black Stone likely died as the Stone slept. My people hadn't yet learned how to build the advanced circles or the sort we built on your world. I trust you were duly impressed with the magical technology we wanted you to find. That is evidence of our advanced state of magical civilisation. Our current woe-is-me mentality is outdated. Our magic is as strong as yours. As strong as any world's. Perhaps that is part of why the prophecy felt less necessary. In a sense we had already saved ourselves, although we remain isolated."

"That all makes sense," Hermione agreed. "Yes, your technology is most advanced. The British scientists can make that alloy which you used in place of lodestone, but something that large would be horrendously costly. I am impressed. The Yggdrasil of our time didn't know about its move. We learned about that from ancient Yggdrasil and told the modern after you had already visited Yggdrasil.""

Szilard smiled, as if to say, 'mission accomplished, and you passed the test of understanding what we left you'. "It's our gift to you. Again, my government would not approve, but it is important to establish ones bona fides. Clearly, our Black Stone being cut off from its fellows led it to become unstable. that is what the prophecy is telling us."

"I don't think so," I told him. "Ancient Yggdrasil told us the rules that it and the Black Stones were required, by their builder/creators, to operate by. One of those rules is that a Stone which is behaving erratically must be shut down. One of the other Black Stones or Yggdrasil is supposed to assume as many of its functions as possible, until it is healed. In the worst case, the sick Stone must be permanently shut down and a replacement installed. I don't know why neither of those alternatives was followed, but it is likely that your Stone was already malfunctioning and that your long-ago ancestors failed to recognise the problem."

"Perhaps. I'd like to review these rules if you will permit that." I nodded my head yes. "I was stumped about who the queen-leader from the north was. I think it possible that the Prime Minister of Norway is the person referred to."

"I listened very carefully to that line. I doubt it refers to me. I am not a queen and I do not have the authority to initiate a quest or even to divert a quest to a location. I suppose that I could argue that point for you, if convinced that Ginny and her Questers must go to Venera. I would need strong convincing, because I've learned that being on Venera is extremely arduous for our kind and because I understand that you held Odin captive and have held a grudge, because he successfully escaped. I can well understand that Ginny would not want to set foot on your world. Also, I suspect that the queen-leader of the north was more likely to refer to a northerly part of your own world or perhaps Asgard or Vanaheimer an awfully long time ago. It seems fantastical that this old a legend could refer to me. I must admit that when Cho and I were fooling around with her wand... very surprisingly, it seems that I have developed a bit of magical ability… not a lot, but enough that I would have been eligible for admission to a magical school. It is a skill which I mean to investigate further."

"See! More evidence that the prophecy, ancient as it is, still applies today and may be unfolding right in front of us. The ancient version of the prophecy mentions that in addition to changing the outside worlds' acceptance and approach to Venera, we Venerans must change our own thinking. I know that is a lot to expect your Questers to accomplish. I'm not sure how that will work... you are supposed to 'ignite change' - perhaps by empowering the castes to lower barriers and cooperate more. Perhaps to make us believe in a brighter future. I fully admit that many of my fellow Venerans have wallowed in despair for far too long, believing ourselves unable to change our fate."

"I can't help thinking that your problems began with your Black Stone and that fixing them requires returning the Black Stone to health. Yggdrasil should be able to help. If there were a way to safely become one with your Black Stone and try to fix it from inside... I don't know, that seems dangerous. Your people captured Odin. Your Stone has a bad reputation. Yggdrasil specifically warned us to avoid it. I must think on this." I saw Hermione pull the diadem from her bag.

"Your response gives me encouragement. Yes! Our Black Stone must be fixed. It was once at the center of our culture and now is an afterthought, except for its frustrated Attendant Priestesses. It is not even a favored duty among Priestesses. We must find out if Yggdrasil can help. I must travel to Asgard and see the great Yggdrasil in person."

"I am willing to permit that. I won't treat you as your ancestors treated me. Imagine, taking a diplomat captive and then fuming that he was forced to kill in escaping. Your people should have blessed me for not undertaking reprisals."

"I thank you and will only say that my people saw the multiple soldiers you killed as an overly extreme reprisal for briefly detaining you."

"Bwahaha," Odin laughed. "My detention was brief only because I managed to escape. Your people have, or at least had, entirely too much self-regard and were way too quick to take offense. That is what made the earlier Venera so disliked by the other worlds. But... I am willing to set all of that aside if you behave yourselves going forward. I do have a question about this part of the prophecy. How has the position of the Priestesses declined and how, contrary to the long tradition of your caste, is the honor of your soldier caste to be restored by anything other than what you consider a great military victory? I don't think any of us are willing to be defeated to give you such a victory."

"The position of the Priestesses was vastly diminished because their role as the human intermediary to our Black Stone became all but meaningless and because the loss of belief in this central prophecy led the people to greatly distrust prophecy, in general. Since the Priestesses largely marry the elite soldiers, if they marry at all, elevating the Priestesses to their former status will also help us. Beyond that, isn't there a common enemy whom you could point as at, so that we have a chance to prove our mettle and recapture honour?"

"I don't have a candidate for you to fight right now but be patient, one may arise. It is uncertain whether I still must fight my final Ragnarök. It's possible our victory over the denizens of Hel served that purpose. While you indeed look out from the fortress my youngest brother built, and while I admit to imprisoning him here, I certainly did not kill him and did not want him dead. His mind was dangerously broken, but I still hoped to cure him. Yes, I did kill Vili by intent. It needed to be done. He caused many deaths and I was forced to conclude that his mind could never be fixed nor could he be persuaded to abandon his evil plots to rule us all. He blamed me for Frijjo's death, of which I had no part. As I tried to cure him, he thrice tried to murder me. When he found that I was too powerful to be murdered by him, he pleaded for his death, telling me that he could never endure the long imprisonment which Ve had. I knew that it would never be safe to release him upon the universe, knew that after I departed as spirit an ally of his or a careless friend of mine might give him his freedom. I decided to grant his wish and asked this fortress to kill him. Would you like to see his body? I will give him a proper funeral and burial, but I know that some among the Vanir and your people will not believe him dead and will hope that he guides them to conquest, unless they see the body for themselves."

"That makes sense. Now, if I may move on with my interpretation. Let me say that, to me at least, the brother-god in the prophecy is Odin, even if he didn't himself cause or want to cause Ve's death, he did contribute, by imprisoning him. So, I look at the lines of the prophecy saying that 'Odin' had this written upon his soul, before he was born, as referring to seid. That is remarkable, because although the prophecy mentions 'realm of the thinking space', I don't think seid was practiced at that time. I have consulted with one of the leading Priestesses and she supports my view. Of course, it could have been knowledge which was lost at the time our Black Stone was shunned by Yggdrasil. It makes sense to me. If my interpretation is correct, then Odin's wandering will never help him and only Ginny's actions in seid space can help."

I told him that this lined up with Frijjo and Gna, and possibly others, making edits in seid space to control Odin and to manipulate the lives of myself, Harry, and our friends. I was learning seid, unafraid to explore in seid space, and potentially able to participate in removing whatever 'curse' Frijjo had admitted to placing upon Odin, to weaken him.

"That makes no sense. If Frijjo did all that manipulation from seid space, and I agree she did a lot to change the course of all our lives, then she could have saved Ve and Vili. She didn't save them. She could have saved herself, and yet she died a meaningless death on the ribbon between worlds."

"No! That's not true. You and we were making decisions faster than Frijjo was able to undo them with her seid. You didn't decide to kill Vili, until well after Frijjo was dead. Frijjo had long ago moved on from Ve to Vili. She is the one who orchestrated Ve's death, not you. That left the fortress to her and Vili. She thought the fortress would kill us, but it didn't. She left the fortress for the ribbon, not having time to look for new edits in seid space or to learn what recent actions we had taken. Our reinforcements of Acromantula guards on the path to the ribbon caught her totally by surprise. Had she been able to escape that encounter, she could have put her seid skills to use, but she never got the chance and the dark Gods, Gna, and Miomor weren't around to help her."

"You're right, Ginny. I still can't fully shed my sentimental attachment to Frijjo. That means we need to explore the appropriate area of seid edits and keep those places protected."

'Easier to do regarding us, than for you. We'll try, we must try, but Frijjo's key edits in the path of your life go way back to before you were born, if that prophecy is correct, and it is seems uncannily accurate. You know what that means? I'll tell you; it means Frijjo learned how to travel far back in time to edit the distant past long before we thought she did, or else her seid skills were truly prodigious. Didn't you or Yggdrasil tell us how close to impossible it is to seid-edit events from that long ago?"

"I already referred to the prophecies allusion to our critical need for Adrienne and her child."

"No!" Hermione was as incensed as I have ever seen her. "This bit about female blood from the new Mother's world. I don't like it. You simply add your name to a long list of powerful males who would turn Adrienne and her son from actual people into tools to serve your own purpose. I also don't see how it would possibly help. Your problems go back so far that to us they are forever. We will fight you to protect Adrienne. You want our help, but you demand human sacrifice of our friend. That will never happen. You just reinforce the opinion of others that your world is far too dangerous to have anything to do with. We are supposed to offer up two of our own, just because you think your ancient prophecy demands it. As of now, I have no evidence that you didn't create this prophecy within the past months. Are you that greedy for your most perfect Priestess? I take it she doesn't want you for her mate, or you wouldn't have to perpetrate this farce."

"Perhaps prophecy emerges from seid-space, where all of our futures are written. Perhaps Adrienne isn't needed on Venera in this time. Perhaps she is needed before the birth of Odin. Perhaps she prevents Frijjo and saves all of us. I deeply apologise. We would not capture Adrienne as Vili tried to do. Certainly, her participation must be totally voluntary."

"Still no, it's monstrous. Her body is not suited for your world. She is happy on ours."

A worried Percy spoke for the first time. "I think we should talk about next steps. I was included in this meeting, because some in our government believed that diplomacy might represent at least a part of the path forward. After you and your fellow soldiers return home, we hoped that you would be able to secure your government's permission to return here as its official representative to negotiate with us. I will be a part of the delegation from what you call Terra. Jointly, we may be able to agree a path forward which benefits both of our worlds."

"I believe that I can obtain the suitable permissions. I likely will be required to include representatives from other key castes."

"Be sure to bring the most perfect Priestess you have picked out for yourself." Hermione earned herself a glare from Percy. She was still fuming. I didn't completely disagree with her. The prophecy had the flavour of something written today, to serve both personal and modern governmental needs, but dressed up to seem ancient. It's supposedly very long-ago prediction of what happened very recently would be intended to make us believe that its future predictions were accurate. I knew Hermione would test the validity of the prophecy every way she could.

"I see you are the skeptic. That is fine. It is part of the Muse's role. Another part is having enough wit and imagination to grant the possibility that a most unusual prophecy from the distant past might actually be genuine and valuable to you."

"If it truly is from the ancient past."

"Which is why I brought as much as I brought with me. It is hidden back at the warehouse."

Rather than send Szilard back to sleep or to one of the cells, a place where I still thought of people turning up dead, accidentally on purpose, he was locked inside a nice apartment. We told him that we needed to question his fellow soldiers, then he and we would travel back to the warehouse. He agreed and promised not to attempt an escape. The other two soldiers told us that Szilard forced their arms down, when they tried to fire upon the aurors. They confirmed that Szilard was their leader. The interviews were quick. They said nothing we didn't already know, but it was encouraging to have at least this much confirmation of what Szilard had told us. I took encouragement from one of the soldier's description of Szilard's prophecy: "Yes, actually I do know it - a bit of fancy from long ago, thoroughly disproven before my great-greats breathed air."

Szilard's hiding place was inside the block construction of the warehouse foundation. It was elaborately protected by magic, the final layer of protection rendering invisible to our magical force viewer. We learned a valuable lesson: check the outside as well as the inside. Viewed at night, the hiding spot was barely visible from outside the warehouse.

Szilard's treasure consisted of an old-looking scroll, which was supposed to be a very old re-write of the original written prophecy, and two small, almost two inches roughly square, browned scraps of what looked like a far more ancient manuscript. There was no squabbling over this. Hermione could choose two samples of the paper, without writing on them, and one sample of the writing. It didn't take long to find a mutually agreed place where the writing could be sampled. Hermione was permitted to nip two very tiny samples from the edges of the scraps. The controversy arose because she insisted, she needed a small sample of the ink. Szilard called this "pointless sacrilege - the ink contains no carbon, so the tests you plan to run will be of no value."

The only solution was for the whole gang to traipse along to the university to meet with Hermione's Uncle Reg. We traveled by way of the Hogwarts pyramid, giving Hermione a chance to alert her Uncle Reg and for Tony to alert Mrs. Toms to be there in advance with a security squad. To wait for all of that to happen, I had to give a very quick tour of the pyramid to Szilard.

"I sense powerful magical protections. Ah, a purple diamond circle. We suspected that you might have one. The purity of magic coming from the direction of Hogwarts was just too strong to be otherwise. From other readings we took, Durmstrang and Paris also have purple diamond circles. Your technology is not far beyond ours. You've kept all three of the purple diamonds for yourselves."

"I think you already know that ancient Yggdrasil gave us three others."

It was off to see Uncle Reg and two of his professor friends. Hermione had described her requirements in detail, during her quick contact with Uncle Reg. We had enough bodies, that we kept Szilard hidden in the center of our mass. I think only Uncle Reg and the third professor ever saw him, although I can't swear that the second of his professor friends didn't catch a quick glimpse. It was impossible to keep the presence of two Prime Minister's secret, especially with Tony's security people. We could not leave, as we had arrived, by Apparation.

The first professor friend made quick work of the ink, handling the scrap of paper with infinite care. "Nope, can't date it. It's orange-red because it's a cadmium sulfo-selenide. Uncle Reg took his measurements on the four scraps of paper/parchment/whatever which Hermione presented him with. When she told him that the samples were not from our world, he said he couldn't give a reliable date.

"Will this help," she presented Uncle Reg with an article of Veneran clothing, which obviously had not been obtained on Earth. "I borrowed this from one of Szilard's soldier pals. I assume it must be reasonably new."

Uncle Reg bravely determined to hazard a guess. "Please don't hold me to this, I can do better for you if you get me more samples. I'll guess two thousand or a bit more years for the newer paper, and yes, it is from plant fiber, not animal skin. The older sample is at least five-thousand years old; I'm guessing probably closer to six and a half, but given another world, I won't say better than that. It is on some sort of animal skin. Not the same as our parchment."

I thought that was the end of our visit to the university, but the purpose of the third professor soon became clear. Hermione asked Szilard if he was willing to allow some tests, "which I apologise in advance for their intrusiveness." She explained that she wanted DNA samples to compare his DNA to ours, as well as a full-body x-ray scan. She said that she would be willing to undergo the same examinations for the benefit of his people's understanding of us. "It will allow us to determine how closely related our people actually are and whether our lineage began with settlers from your world."

I was surprised when Szilard agreed, adding "we don't have an X-ray scan of any from your world, but we do have several blood samples. I apologise that these samples were taken from the persons killed by one of our soldiers."

The Norwegian Prime Minister audibly gasped.

The tests were done. We waited and Mrs. Toms planned our escape from university, while Hermione and Szilard underwent testing.

Szilard had a handful of x-rays and three vials of blood. Hermione had the same. She gave two of them to the professor, telling him "one vial to analyze immediately, one to store for ten years, until you have better test procedures, and one for me to store."

As we were leaving, Mrs. Toms admonished all three professors: "all very exciting, I know, but remember that you all signed the Official Secrecy Act." We snuck out a rear door and escaped into what was now the night.

Szilard, who was departing with Percy, Callista, and Odin told Hermione and me "I hope we can work out a plan for you to help us. Your help is needed. I understand that you want to know, but it would be best if you didn't mention your own theory that our people arose from Terran stock. That might stoke a lot of public anger against you. It is totally contrary to our long-held beliefs."

"It is likelier that we will help you, if you don't insist that we support your erroneous legends. The truth is best."

Szilard both nodded and frowned.


	56. Chapter 56

**Chapter One – The Committee Of Thinking Beings is Formed**

The Montaigne family reunion not requiring as much time as anticipated, we made it back to Hogwarts with plenty of time before dinner. We found Luna and Neville in the common room. Neville immediately gave us the two-thumbs-up gesture highlighted by a broad smile.

"The Light Guardian was correct. My parents are fully recovered. I spoke with them for hours, bringing them up to date on my life and on current, or even decades old, events. This has been the best day of my life. Doctor White said my parents both suddenly started speaking at the same time and asked to see me. This was while I invaded the Sacred Cavern and the Light Guardian spoke to me. That must mean something."

"That's wonderful," I told Neville. "It is truly miraculous."

"Yes, I really believe it is," Neville declared.

Luna said George had gone to the shop, so Harry quickly Apparated there to bring him back. We needed to compare notes on what the Light Guardian had told each of us before we sat down with Professor McGonagall and the Malfoys. We'd have to compare notes with Draco as well, but that could occur in McGonagall's apartment. It was strange that the trauma of the prior day had totally killed our interest in feuding with McGonagall, but it appeared that it had. My sessions with Mrs. Granger had helped - I understood my feelings better and my anger was tempered. That improvement was minor to the changes in my thinking caused by the ten minutes the Light Guardian shared my head. I was calmer and more focused on the big things, like helping to rebuild the Wizarding world, including Hogwarts. Shacklebolt's reference to 'academic tiffs' meant more to me than when he had said that. I was at peace. None of us voiced any concern about sharing what were very deep secrets with her, Trew, and even Narcissa.

I volunteered to begin the discussion and rattled off everything that the Light Guardian had told me, including reporting my increased language skills and knowledge of ancient Wizard history and celestial prophecy. I was now well versed in the history, culture, and myths of the other magical species. I even had the generational knowledge handed down within the major whale pods. More surprisingly, I held lost knowledge of several pods which had been hunted to extinction. That all was vital knowledge for the Mother of the Future. Surprisingly, I also learned a lot about Muggle religion, history, myths, and culture. I felt that I could repair a magical circle and was willing to tackle the Gringotts Circle.

Harry went next, revealing that he received the same skills as I had, except for the knowledge of the priestesses, of which he received just a smattering. He confirmed my message that he, Cissy, and I were accepted as Keepers and that the Montaigne prophecy had been discharged. He said he had been instructed to continue work on the prophecies and to remain in government. Just as I was granted two years to be a Harpy, Harry was given a year to be an auror, if that really was his ambition. He was also told that Professor Trelawney, in addition to Firenze and Cotto, could be of great assistance to him.

Cissy repeated most of what she had previously said to her father, also indicating that she had received the same skills that Harry had, but also had learned the thoughts of an ancient prophetess, named Hildegarde. Apparently, Hildegarde was a very sober and studious prophetess. Despite her presumed immersion in all things Hildegarde, Cissy couldn't help bubbling, "I was just so thrilled that the Light Guardian said that the Montaigne prophecy was over and done with and that I could safely enter the Sacred Chamber without risking the end of magic or the putting off of the next golden age. I really want to be a part of the changes that will occur under the watch of the next Keepers. I regret that my father is totally unable to share my enthusiasm, but that is his loss."

Hermione had been given the biggest splash of education, which the Light Guardian had said was consistent with her future job as Muse and mother of one of the cousins, whom she would need to educate well before he went to Hogwarts. In addition to what the rest of us learned, her brain was crammed with Elf, Goblin, and Centaur philosophy, art and poetry and the more important musings and discoveries of the cetaceans, which passed generation to generation. She had a comprehensive knowledge of healing plants and potions and a boost to her mathematical skills. She was told that she must keep herself safe, keep Harry and me under control, and generally be a source of wisdom, calm, and guidance. The Ravenclaw diadem was officially hers - a gift from the Light Guardian who had originally instilled its power.

It turned out that Luna was the only one of us not to receive training in magical engineering, although she received the language skills, ancient Wizard history, and much of Hermione's muse knowledge. It was suggested to her that her life might well benefit by increased direction and that she should consider becoming a Light Guardian Priestess. She said this thought appealed to her, although she had no desire to become a solitary, unmarried crone. She told us that many of the ancient priestesses has served as healers and midwives and that this form of service appealed to her.

Margaret said, "The Light Guardian said I did every bit as good a job as the original Joan. It said that while I had done my part in the battle, that I should devote myself to making peace and improving the lot of all magical creatures. I know magical engineering and a lot of languages, philosophy, and religion. I don't think I learned any history. I didn't learn about the Goblins, but know a lot about the other magical creatures, even the spiders and Merpeople. I must think hard about what use I must make of my life. My thoughts and new knowledge are still a complete jumble, but so much of the new knowledge seems terribly interesting. I know for certain that I've learned a lot of defensive spells and charms."

Bill and Barb said that they had learned a powerful new protective spell, a disabling curse, and knowledge of Goblin-speak. They had been instructed that they must protect the rest of us and should consider themselves to be sacred warriors. To that end they had been given an ability to detect strong hostile intent and cunning lies. They also received knowledge of magical engineering. They were left with a stern admonition that holy warriors strived to avoid killing any thinking creature. They said that this matched what aurors were taught and what they had always believed. If they had been transformed into super-aurors, they would be protectors of the weak, not super killing machines. They were both remarkably gentle people for how I had formerly thought of aurors before I had met the two of them. Barb thought she could sense the presence of others who were nearby but outside of her sight or hearing. She described this as a most disconcerting extra sense.

Ron and Neville also received the advanced knowledge of spells. While Neville received the same knowledge of useful plants, healing, and potions as Hermione, he also got the full dose of history. In addition to magical engineering, Ron said he now understood a lot of Muggle science, mathematics, and engineering. Inexplicably, he said he knew all that could ever be known about the design and construction of pyramids and stone sculpture. Ron said the Light Guardian had given him an extra precise sense of time, direction, and space. "There is something called 'a space which is not your own time and space', which I am supposed to be able to understand and navigate, but about which I'm unaware of having received any knowledge."

"I'm glad we had this session," Harry concluded. "It is important to know if Draco learned things that we didn't, or if he was left out on some of the information transmitted to us. I'm feeling better about Draco since he joined in trying to rescue us, but exactly what he was told will reveal the Light Guardian's level of trust in him. Baal has made a transcript of each of our memories of what we were told and what we learned. The Minister is very interested in this.

"I think we're now in good position to go off to dinner and our meeting with Professors McGonagall and Trelawney. I didn't want any surprises from our own circle to emerge in the course of that meeting. I was also thinking that, given what the Light Guardian said about Trelawney having something to offer to us and how much it taught us about magical engineering, that perhaps we should drop the magical engineering course and switch to Trelawney's course next term. I think we can be reasonably open when we get to McGonagall's apartment. I should warn the rest of you that I won't bring it up at the start, because I don't want to risk ruining the meeting, but I do plan to ask Professor McGonagall for an apartment, like she gave Draco and Pansy."

Our pre-meeting had left me more relaxed than I had felt in advance of a McGonagall meeting in a long time and I quite enjoyed my supper. I couldn't help noticing how happy Mum looked at the staff table. It dawned on me that she had worried as much as I had about how the meeting with Dad might turn out. I think she also believed that Percy was speaking the truth, rather than just throwing out a smart remark to gain attention. I was hoping that she would join us for the McGonagall meeting. If Narcissa would be there, Mum certainly should be, also. At the end of supper, Mum did indeed join McGonagall, Trelawney, and Narcissa in leading a very large group of us up to the apartment. Barb and Bill traipsed along as participants, rather than as our bodyguards.

I don't know from whence they all came, but as I was stepping over the threshold and into the candle-lit living room of the apartment, I noticed that precisely sixteen padded armchairs were arranged in a circle in the centre of the large room, with five short tables interspersed at an interval of every third chair. One chair was already filled by King Goblanze. Harry seemed to randomly grab a chair and I sat to his left, which put a table and then Mum to my left. Harry was seated next to Draco, to his right. There was even a pile of straw in the corner of the room, upon which Firenze and Bane had been ensconced, waiting for us to come up from dinner. There was a loud pop and Cotto was perched on the little table, between Mum and me. The gang was all here.

"To avoid any potential awkwardness, I thought that I had best start off this meeting by giving the same gift to Harry and Ginny, which I previously presented to Draco and Pansy on the occasion of their wedding". With that, she handed Harry and me very large brass keys to our own personal apartment. I'm sure that I was all smiles.

"I'll show you how to find the apartment at the conclusion of this meeting," Professor McGonagall promised us. "I do request one difference in the arrangement that I reached with Draco and Pansy. Whereas Draco and Pansy were orphans, without a strong attachment to any House, you are both strongly attached to Gryffindor. Your presence there has been hugely comforting to the younger students. I hope that you will be able to make the time to spend some of your evenings in the Gryffindor Common Room and to continue to assist the younger students."

Harry and I both promised that we intended to do that. In truth, we would greatly miss the camaraderie of the Common Room, were we to simply retire to our apartment after dinner. I anticipated nothing changing, except walking off to our own apartment, instead of trudging up the stone steps to our separate dorm rooms at the end of an evening of discussion and study. If nothing else, Ron, Hermione, George, Luna and, perhaps for a little while longer, Neville, were still living in Gryffindor and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with them, before I graduated, and we dispersed to our separate adult lives.

I realised with a jolt that I had been wool gathering and that Professor McGonagall had already shifted into the guts of the meeting, having called upon Harry to present his version of events, including what the Light Guardian had communicated to him. Harry pretty much regurgitated what he had said at our pre-meeting, but did make a point of mentioning, "the confrontation in the Sacred Cavern was entirely consistent with what we saw in Professor Trelawney's globe. Her explanation of the globe darkening and turning blood red was also consistent with what happened. Ron let loose some Weasley blackout bombs and right after that the Light Guardian appeared as an intense ball of white fire. What we saw in the globe definitely was the blackout followed by the overloading of the scene with light."

Trelawney was positively beaming as she heard that explanation from Harry and sat visibly higher in her chair. "I just knew that the globe was showing a true vision," was all that she said.

The others retold the same tales they had told in the common room, with the exception that we said nothing about the Mother of the Future or her Muse. I was simply a Keeper and Hermione an assistant. McGonagall tried to stare me into saying more but seemed to accept that we did not consider the Malfoys to be appropriate recipients of this knowledge. We all awaited what Draco would say. As if she realised that this was the case, Professor McGonagall chose to leave Draco for last.

Draco said, "I don't know anything about the fight with the Goblins in the Reception Hall, before Harry went into the Sacred Chamber. I ran into Mrs. Weasley collecting swords and shields from the Hogwarts corridors and helped her carry some of them down to the Reception Hall. That was just a few minutes before Harry and Cissy left the Reception Hall. I saw a Goblin push Ginny into the tunnel and then saw Hermione trying to pull her back out. I moved forward to try to help, but the door closed again, before I could get there.

"I heard Neville and Ron planning to raid the cavern if they didn't hear from Harry in ten minutes, and I volunteered to join them. Harry has been very helpful to Pansy and me, so I felt that I owed him at least that much. Somebody gave me a sword and a shield and Ron gave me a blackout bomb and a Whiz Bang to throw. Ron stuck his ring into the socket beside the door and we waited a long time for the door to open. Bill and Barb led us down the tunnel and stopped before the mouth of the tunnel, expecting that the Goblins would jump us as soon as we set foot in the cavern. We all threw our bombs and Whiz Bangs. When we heard the explosions, we pushed into the cavern, shields held high, behind Bill and Barb. There were Goblins off to the side and I stabbed one of them with my sword. The Goblin fell back and then I saw this bright ball of light. At first it looked like it wanted to sprout arms and legs and even a huge beard, but then just became a brighter and brighter ball that moved to my right to the end of the cavern. I had to close my eyes; it was so bright.

"Then a voice just flooded into my head, saying it was the Light Guardian and that I shouldn't be afraid, that the danger was past. It told me that it was the true protector of all creatures who think, and that its only wish was that we should stop fighting and killing each other and that every person and species should cooperate for the common good. It said that it had restored the magic for now, but that it was up to all of us to improve the magic and to keep the magic alive after it left. It told me there were some things that I needed to know if I were to lead a useful life and not just steal from the Muggles, as my father does. It told me that it had chosen Harry, Ginny and Cissy to be the Keepers of the Covenant and that Ginny was the Mother of the Future and Hermione was her Muse. It told me that I should help them and assist them in implementing an expanded Covenant.

"It said I must convince the remaining Great Families to join with us, but that there would be a lot of resistance. I promised that I would be strong. You must keep your promises to the Light Guardian. It also told me that the day was not far away, when all Muggles would be able to use magic, and there would be no difference between Wizards and Muggles. I learned ancient Wizard history, Goblin-speak, Elf-speak, and magical engineering. My head felt stuffed to exploding. The Light Guardian told me that from now on I must be a protector and a builder and that I must persuade Pansy to help me - that she was too idle and obsessed with having house Elves to order about. It said I was welcome to visit the Sacred Cavern whenever I want to, and that Harry would give me a ring to open the door. Then the light was gone, and I could see that everyone was telling the truth when they said that the circle had been repaired and Ruppasta was gone. The Goblin King joined us, and we returned to the Reception Hall. That's all that I can remember. I plan to do what the Light Guardian said. I've never seen anything as amazing as that cavern, and the crystal circle, and the Light Guardian. It was like it was right inside my head, reading every thought I had."

Well, so much for not telling the Malfoys about the Mother of the Future. Despite McGonagall's insistence, I told the group that I was still getting used to be the Mother, didn't fully understand what it meant, and would have nothing further to say on that subject.

Draco was not the last to tell his tale. King Goblanze described everything that he had witnessed from "making a routine visit to check on the defences at the Reception Hall and being surprised by close to a hundred of Ruppasta's rebels attacking us. My loyal Goblins fought well, and Bane's Centaurs were a major help. They don't have Centaurs in Europe and Ruppasta didn't realise what excellent warriors they are. He didn't, I confess I didn't either, realize that they could apparate and do magic with the London Circles interfering so badly with the Hogwarts Circle. I owe my life to the Centaurs. Many of the rebels died on the spot, but Ruppasta was able to open the portal to the Sacred Chamber, just as a pair of his rebels Apparated behind me. I was captured and herded into the Sacred Cavern by the rebels. My guard inside the Sacred Cavern fought bravely to protect the Circle and to free me, but they were hindered by trying to prevent harm to me and to avoid killing fellow Goblins. Ruppasta planned to quickly disable the London Circles and did so. His rebels had planned to fight without magic. I hadn't drilled my troops enough on that approach, and my error ultimately led to my side's defeat. I'm lucky to be alive.

"Ruppasta bound me in on a stone bench at the rear of the Sacred Cavern, so that I could witness his elevation to power before I died. When Harry and Cissy entered the Cavern, Ruppasta told me that I might as well witness the deaths of those whose cheating allowed me to hang onto power and was responsible for what Ruppasta described as "all the unnecessary bloodshed of this day and the past week. You should have resigned when your cheating and the illegitimacy of your rule were revealed. If I had assumed power peacefully, there would be more Goblins alive today and we could prevail against the humans. You will soon die, and I will be left to make as bright a Goblin future as possible with what you have left to me."

King Goblanze said the Light Guardian instructed him to remain in office just long enough to clean up the present mess and organise a fair competition to choose a successor. In terms of knowledge, he was given "only an encyclopaedic knowledge of Goblin History and lore 'so that the magnitude of your dishonesty and the depth of the disgrace to Goblin tradition that you represent should be fully apparent to you.' I am charged to do good, be generous to the unfortunate, argue for justice and fairness, and generally try to redeem my life in the time that I have left to me."

Firenze, Cotto, and Bane told McGonagall what they had already told us, although Cotto emphasised, and Firenze backed him up, in interpreting the Covenant as applying to all creatures who think. Cotto said that included Aragog's family, the cetaceans, the more intelligent simians, Giants, and the non-magical humans. We were all instructed to live in peace with all these creatures and to do what we could to protect them. Cotto said the Light Guardian had instructed him and the Mother of the Future to form a council of the representatives of each of these species. He said he would discuss this with Arthur Weasley and Harry Potter.

"This is all as the ancient traditions say," Professor Trelawney assured us. "I am thrilled that this happened in my lifetime. While I'm speaking, I want to also say that I've made some plans regarding my future. Professor Firenze and I will co-teach the Divination courses this year. He's going to teach me the basics of celestial prophecy. I'm then going to take a year's sabbatical and study with the Dalai Lama. Professor Firenze has arranged this for me."

"I thought the two of you really, really, didn't get along," Luna piped up.

"I can't tell you what an honour it is to study with and co-teach a course with the Keeper of the Universe. Mother would be so very proud. Professor Firenze and I have settled our differences and are happily committed to working together. The headmaster has received permission from the Ministry to modify the content of the Divination courses. I won't have to teach those techniques that nobody thinks are valid. Professor Firenze and I will modify the content on the fly, so to speak."

"I look forward to the experience," Professor Firenze seconded from the corner. "It is fitting that we all be gathered here, because we all need to be part of the forces for positive change in the magical world. There has been far too much greed and stubbornness and willingness to follow leaders whose minds are obviously very, very dark. All thinking creatures have a clear choice. We can join to peacefully build a better future for all peoples, or we can let ourselves be ruled by past jealousies and grievances and a sense that our group or even ourselves must lead the others or we will try to tear things down. It shouldn't be a hard choice. The past is dead. We all have only the future to work with. You all now know more of the truth of your history and the source and control of magical power than any Wizards in at least a millennium. You also know the other things that Wizards need to learn in order to get along with the non-magical humans and survive in the modern world. You are the group that must make a successful future for magical creatures happen. I am happy to report that the Unicorns are rapidly returning to health and that their blood is once again silver. It is most important that the Unicorns be protected and that their numbers be increased. With the permission of all of you, I suggest that this group, and the new Goblin King, when he is selected, meet weekly to discuss our joint plans and progress in renewing our world."

"I totally agree," Cotto said. "The Elves will do our duty to make a new Covenant work. I look forward to the day when all of the magical creatures can show themselves to the humans and freely move about this world."

"I think that is quite enough for tonight," Professor McGonagall concluded the meeting. "If there are no objections, we'll meet here next week. Also, if there are no objections, I think we should include Arthur in the next meeting. I've learned that it is highly counterproductive to work at cross-purposes with a Minister who is sympathetic to your own aims."

The meeting broke up quickly and Professor McGonagall showed Harry and me how to enter our new apartment. It turns out that we went through the third-floor corridor wall on the opposite side of the stuffed lizard from the entrance to Professor McGonagall's own apartment. I thanked her sincerely and profusely for the apartment, which was going to make a big improvement in my life. Her parting remarks were "don't worry, the walls are extremely thick."

We found that the corridor wall was tuned to our touch, or perhaps to the touch of someone carrying the proper key. I had merely to touch the wall at the point indicated by Professor McGonagall, and the solid stone seemed to melt away, revealing a narrow archway leading to a steep stone staircase with a polished bronze railing. Like the path to the McGonagall apartment, the stairs became brightly illuminated as we approached them and then ascended. The light always appeared five feet ahead of us, until the stairs terminated at a substantial wooden door, with a large locking mechanism. I inserted my key and found that the key turned easily in the lock, with the door immediately springing loose and requiring only a gentle push to swing into the living room. Our living room was a little smaller, but quite like Professor McGonagall's. The room became alight as we entered, revealing two arm chairs in front of the fireplace, with a small wooden table in between. There was a stack of firewood held by a brass rack to the right of the fireplace. Our windows had no curtains and the only other furniture was two study desks and chairs pushed up against the wall on our right.

Further exploration revealed a bedroom, with a large soft bed and a wardrobe for our clothes. There was a small bathroom off the bedroom. It held a small claw footed tub and a pedestal basin. Both happily had hot water piped to them. There was also a porcelain toilet, with an overhead flush pull.

I loved our apartment. It might be sparsely furnished, but all we really needed was that wonderful plush bed. No more stone landings for this Witch. My arse was sore. After the stone landing, my stone seat in the Sacred Chamber had hurt.

Harry and I stripped off our clothes and got into bed between the very soft, fresh-smelling sheets. We just lay side by side, touching bodies, with my head on Harry's shoulder and his hand cupping my right breast. We didn't utter a sound, but our thoughts flowed back and forth effortlessly.

{[contentment, love] It's great just to be lying here together. When I stepped into the tunnel to the Sacred Cavern, I was very afraid that I would never see you again and relieved that we had taken the time to get married. I was thinking that whatever happened to me, at least you would live for both of us and be able to fulfil your prophecy. I thought if things turned out reasonably well in the Cavern, that even if Ruppasta killed me, that I might well have done enough to hold up my end of the prophecy. You can't imagine how much my heart sank, when I saw the Deputy Chairman herding you into the Cavern.}

{{I understand. I truly intended to keep my promise to you to stay out of the Cavern. I would have disregarded my father's wishes in order to be able to join you in facing what you had to face. I couldn't betray my word to you. I just thought I was seeing you for the last time, so even a last glimpse of your ankles as you walked through the tunnel was precious to me. As Bill would say, my emotion caused me to lose track of situational awareness and the Deputy Chairman was able to sneak up and give me a shove. As I stumbled out of the tunnel, I wasn't afraid, I was just worried that you would be disappointed in me and think I broke my pledge.}}

{[concern] I know you didn't enter of your own free will. I trust you in everything.}

{{That's a great relief. I'm glad our friends joined in the rescue at the end. With the Light Guardian's intervention, their presence wasn't necessary, but having them be able to share much of the experience is going to keep our circle tightly bound together in the future. I love you very much, but just the two of us aren't going to be enough. It is comforting to know that our friends will stay with us.}}

{[happiness] that's a relief to me as well. It would have been easy for this to drive us apart. Now we are all brothers and sisters in that moment. It's also a relief to know that we have a tight little band who won't think we're crazy, religious lunatics, as we tell the stories that we must tell. That is a great comfort. I fear I'm not quite as strong as I would need to be to go ahead as just the two of us.}

{{I don't mind sharing you with our friends. You know that the Light Guardian said I'm allowed to be a Harpy for two years. Are you okay with that?}}

{Who am I to deny you what you've always wanted to do? Your skin is soft, by the way.}

I was thinking that this was a very nice cuddle, although it didn't seem to be leading any place. Then suddenly it was, and when I finally fell asleep, I was a very happy Witch.


	57. Chapter 57

**Chapter 57 – The Veneran Delegation**

It took three days of negotiations for Percy to convince the Veneran delegation to accept a modification of their precondition by which Adrienne, but not her child, would appear briefly. Percy utterly failed to persuade Szilard to modify his demand. He did, however, convince Nalum to intercede. Nalum became sufficiently agitated that he verbally attacked Szilard during a negotiating session. "These are important negotiations. I cannot permit you to jeopardise them for personal reasons. I don't understand why you could lead these negotiations, but that can be changed. I know that you do what you do, because you think it the only way you will be allowed to marry Anile. Our world must come before your romance. Either accept the Terran proposal, or I will contact our leader and have you sent back home."

"The prophecy is everything. It is what will save our people. To better understand and prove the prophecy, I must study both mother and child. Speaking to the mother will help, but without studying the child, I cannot be certain of the best path forward. Of course, I want Anile more than anything, but I would never harm our people to achieve that. The prophecy is the most important thing."

"The prophecy is superstitious nonsense, compounded by liberal changes made by you. I can't yet prove it to be a forgery, but I promise you that I will do so. Our people recognised the worthlessness of that prophecy many years ago. Are you going to force me to contact our Supreme Leader?"

"Don't be impatient, you'll spoil everything. I know that you can make this work, with just the mother to speak to. She can answer your questions about her child. Please, don't be foolishly stubborn," Anile pleaded with Szilard.

"Fine, I accept the modification of my pre-condition. When can Mother Adrienne be here. It is vital that I speak to her."

That was an inauspicious beginning to our participation in the negotiations. We had our own problem. We were being forced to take a huge crowd with us: Adrienne, Cho, Cissy, Hermione, and me, but also Tony, Mrs. Toms, The Bad Dude, the Norwegian Prime Minister, Secretary Afshar, and Ron. The Venerans weren't pleased when they saw all of us appear. "I'm sorry, politics," I apologised.

Szilard seemed unfazed, launching right into his questioning. "You must be Adrienne. I must know, this relates to a dream I had. Were you largely responsible for bringing down a power-mad, Wizard villain, who wanted to murder the unmagical? Did you use stealthy means to destroy him? Did you know that he still lives, far from your world?"

"Yes, I know all of that to be true, except that I did not actually destroy him myself, I merely watched and made it easier for others to thwart his plans."

"Yes! My vision is true. As with the vision, so with the prophecy. Another sleeping vision led me to find the original form of the prophecy. Told me that it was valid and that it was my duty to study it and help it to become real and true. Is it true that you quested."?

"You know that I did. You know that I became pregnant, because Vili tricked me to further his own crazy schemes."

"Vili followed prophecy, as do I. You and your child are far more important than you realise. Important to all our worlds. Odin suspects that what I say is true. He knows that Vili believed this with all his heart. So do I. Has your son shown signs of magical ability?"

"No, he hasn't, but he's barely a year old. That is far too young to produce magic."

"For one of your people, yes, for a demi-God, most certainly not. You must watch him more closely. You see only what your mind expects you to see."

"I assure you, I am a good mother. I watch my son most carefully. I know that his parentage might lead to abnormalities. I watch especially closely for any sign of magic, just as I carefully search every day for spying Ravens from other worlds. I WILL protect my son. I have already bagged a half dozen Ravens. Rocks don't fly very well."

She used transfiguration on flying Ravens. That was impressive. That comment had also caught Anile's attention. An expression between bewilderment and fear flitted across her face. She quickly recomposed herself, but I had seen her reaction. Szilard missed all of this and barged ahead.

"What I need to know is this: would you consider living and raising your son up to age eleven on Venera. I promise that both of you will be safe and very well cared for, even revered. I know it will be a strange world to you and you'll start out without friends, but so many of us will be eager to befriend and pamper you. The humidity and odour's would not permeate your dwelling. I'm quite sure you would adjust to the greater weight and your son would view it as natural. It will make him stronger. He will be Hogwarts' star athlete."

"I don't see why it is important for my son and I to live on Venera. I know that was never a part of Vili's scheme."

"A young boy should not be separated from his mother. It would stunt his emotional development. He must live his early years on Venera so that our world seems natural to his body. He must return to Venera after he graduates Hogwarts. He must father many children, with many of our women."

"Even if I agreed to your plan, it would be up to Harry to decide where he wanted to live after he graduates. I'd never force an adult life upon him. That would be obscene."

"I'm willing to take my chances that he will recognise and be sympathetic to our world's plight. The Wizard you named him for couldn't resist the lure of being a great hero. I doubt his namesake will forsake that future. I am content to leave the choice to Harry. Will you consider raising your son on my world? Raise him as the world-saving demi-God he is?"

"I really don't think so."

It all happened so fast. Szilard Apparated to Adrienne's side, grabbed her, and appeared ready to Apparate. The soldier guy did the same to Harry. Fortunately, I had followed Adrienne's directive and, despite the tense discussion, had maintained intense focus. I saw Megiddo disappear. A very brief, but frantic, search found him grasping my husband. Harry cursed him, to no avail. Then, suddenly, I had turned Meggido into a Flobberworm. I saw Anile and Nalum, still sitting in their original position, shocked looks upon their faces. I searched for Szilard. What my eyes found was Adrienne stepping away from a jagged white pillar, which I was very sure must be salt.

"That Bastard tried to kidnap me. I fixed him. He's salt. I don't think anyone, other than me, can return him to his former self. If I knock down this salt pillar, I'm certain that neither I, nor Odin, nor anyone else will be able to bring Szilard back alive. I think I shall..."

"Stop! Please. I beg you. He was very wrong, but I love him."

"His pal attacked me. My spell just bounced off him I guess it takes the double curse to kill a Veneran. Now we know better for next time. This is the second act of war against our world. I don't see how I can ignore it. It's a good thing that Odin raised the anti-Apparation barriers. I didn't realise that the barriers permitted Apparation within this chamber. I would have been more careful had I known. When you invaded our world, we returned your prisoners. We did not launch a reprisal. Now you ask to negotiate and betray us."

I knew Harry's voice well enough to know he recognised what a narrow escape he had just experienced and how worried his was that his curses hadn't worked.

"I assure you that my government knew nothing of Szilard's plan. Had we known; he would not have been allowed to participate in this negotiation. let alone lead it. A reprisal will lead to war, which will cause major damage to both of our worlds. I see it as our job to prevent that. If hosing the pile of salt, which is Szilard, down the drain will satisfy you, have at it. The fault here is his. You saw that Anile and I did not participate in his attack. Meggido and he were acting on their own. Meggido is Szilard's battle companion. They trained to fight side-by-side. I should have questioned Szilard's insistence upon including Meggido in this mission. That was my error. I'm sure you will have no problem killing Meggido in his present form. My people won't object. We don't want him back. He betrayed us as much as he betrayed you."

"I want my Szilard back," Anile wailed. "He is not a bad person. He didn't forge the older version of the prophecy. He was so convinced he knew what must be done to save all our worlds that, I guess he just decided to impose his solution. I know that's bad, but he meant well. He doesn't deserve to die. If he dies, we all lose our best hope. We can never return home. We would be pariah or prisoner, perhaps executed. I request asylum for both of us on your world."

"BACK!" Adrienne was incensed. The salt pillar shot across the room and splatted against the far wall. Tiny pieces of salt were everywhere. "Anybody who wants to grant asylum to that can be my guest. I won't be forever looking over my shoulder for Szilard to come and steal my son! Now, I'd like to return home."

Anile let out a blood curdling scream and lunged at Adrienne's throat. She never made it. A Flobberworm hit the floor, bounced once, and just shuddered. I was astounded that Hermione had managed to maintain her focus upon Anile for that long.

"I apologise. I must return home and confer with my government. Please - let all this count as adequate reprisal. I did not come here to harm anyone. Your people are far tougher and fiercer than Szilard said. I've never seen such a weapon, and we have had more than our share of fighting on Venera. Again, I apologise. I will contact you. If my government permits, I wish to resume negotiations. If Odin will lower the Apparation barrier and you alert your garrison to allow me past your fortress on the road between worlds, I will be off to my home."

As soon as Nalum was gone, Odin asked "now what? How best to salvage this bad situation? I can keep these three safely imprisoned in the dungeon of this fortress."

"Is that safe, they Apparated despite the barriers you put up? I tried to Apparate when Szilard grabbed at me. I couldn't. The barriers did cover Apparation within this chamber. I sensed that Szilard was about to Apparate away with me, just as I transfigured him. I do realize that Flobberworms and a pile of salt can't Apparate."

"I think Anile and Szilard may be of future value. I don't wish to trouble Ginny's thoughts." Odin pointed and the Flobberworm, which had been Megiddo, was black and smoking. "That's on me. Can you please retrieve the other two?"

Hermione flicked her wand and Anile stood where the Flobberworm had writhed. Anile's face bore a look of horror. "You killed Szilard. You'll never find all these pieces. My skin itches fiercely. I'm sure I landed upon pieces of him and he's under my skin."

Adrienne and Hermione conferred in whispers. Hermione flicked her wand, speaking "Accio, crystal salt."

An enormous pile of exceptionally fine salt sat in a squat pile in front of Hermione.

"Please!" Anile begged, looking from Adrienne to Hermione and back.

"I'm not sure it's safe," Harry intervened. "The anti-Apparation barriers didn't stop him or you. "I don't want him back, while Adrienne is still here. I think all nonessentials need to return home. Those who can form special weapon teams are essential."

Adrienne, all the politicians, including Harry, left. Harry snogged me, before he left, whispering to me "be very safe. Szilard is not worth taking a risk. Don't worry, Adrienne will be very well guarded."

As soon as they left, I realised that Adrienne had been the only one to practice transfiguring Szilard. IF we could recover him and IF he proved a problem again, that weapon was gone.

"Is that it?" Anile demanded. "Adrienne is gone and only she could put Szilard back together."

"Sorry. She fears her child becoming an orphan. Szilard will still be extremely dangerous if we bring him back. She came to this meeting as a special favour to me. I couldn't ask her to risk her life again. To me, Szilard isn't worth that. I know he is to you, but he is just so dangerous. I think he's mad. Madmen can be uncontrollable. As far as I'm concerned, you're welcome to return home. You are welcome to take all the salt with you and see if you or the more senior priestesses can recreate Szilard from it. Your romance couldn't work, without Szilard stealing Adrienne. That was unacceptable to us. Your people still think they can push us around to suit your needs. You can't. We want peace, but our world can destroy yours. Let Szilard go. We both know that he'll never stop trying to steal Adrienne's child and that we'll be forced to hit back much harder"

"I wasn't lying when I said I can't return home. They would kill me and flush Szilard down the drain. We both broke basic rules of our Orders. We have disobeyed our superiors. It would set a bad example if we could live. I can help you. If I help you enough, perhaps Adrienne will agree to re-assemble Szilard?"

"Perhaps. She is the only one of us who studied him closely enough to re-make him. For her it's a reversal, difficult, but possible. For me, it would be trying to create a specific person from a miscellaneous pile of stuff. I can tell you that it would have been much easier for her to do if the pillar of salt had remained intact. She undoubtedly expected a demand to reverse her spell. You don't understand how great a threat she viewed first Szilard and then you and Szilard to her child. She was already angry and frightened. She feared your request for asylum for you and Szilard. That would inevitably, if granted, involve her being asked to bring back Szilard and then to share her world with her persecutor. I can't imagine how frightening that must have been for her. She's been through a lot. First Bruce, then Vili, and now Szilard and you. You leapt at her throat. She is unlikely to ever forget that image. She trusted Hermione to stop you, but it still must have been scary. I think you'll need to get your help from somewhere else."

Odin produced a sack made from very finely woven cloth. We deposited all the salt in it and handed it to Anile. "Perhaps this salt will make it easier to reconstitute Szilard, although I really can't imagine how. None of us really understands the anatomy of Venerans. I did focus upon Szilard, because I saw myself as backstop if Adrienne failed to stop him. I could try to bring him back if you can come up with a way to prevent him from being a threat to us. Really both of you. It's clear that you'll fight to protect him, possibly to help him achieve his goal."

"I accept that offer. I'll think about how he can be made safe. Meanwhile, can we talk? I really can help you and stay your hand at striking back against my people. I'm now pariah, but what I did, I did to help my world and I still love it."


	58. Chapter 58

**Chapter 58 – A Serious Warning And a Call To Arms**

I wanted to go home and commiserate with Adrienne and strategise with my husband and allies, but it seemed important to learn what Anile was able to tell us. As Hermione and I focused upon her and encouraged her to speak, she sat down right where she was and unloaded.

"Nalum is not your enemy, nor is our government. But… we have many guilds, castes, and factions within each of those. They each vie for advantage. They each think their faction should have more prestige and power than it does. As soon as Nalum returns to Venera, he will make a verbal report to our leader. Within hours, he will be required to report to all the Assembled Representatives. Each guild or caste has at least one Representative, the more significant have more. Those more significant include the soldiers and the priestesses.

"The soldiers will take Szilard's defeat very badly. Szilard wasn't all that popular or powerful within his caste, but many seized upon his interpretation of prophecy to regain their caste's past authority. They risked and greatly extended themselves to secure Szilard's leadership of the mission. They will fear a plummeting of their influence. I've sat in on meetings between Szilard and his sponsors and with Szilard's friends. I know how they think. They will seek a way to strike back quickly, while they still retain influence. I'm sure they will attack you within a day. It is their way. They will see a victory over you as their last chance. Given the reason for Szilard's mission, Adrienne and her child seem likely targets."

I held up my hand to pause her, taking several minutes to relay all of this to Harry. Hogwarts, its pyramid, and the garrison on the ribbon would be reinforced instantly. Harry would put our community on a war footing.

"How much knowledge do you have of your government's plans and strategy toward us?" Hermione pressed her.

"Very little. I have some stature as the leading young priestess, but our elders don't include me in their plans. My main role, for the next several decades, would have been to marry a leader of the soldier caste and raise children. Priestesses aren't taken seriously until they reach at least age seventy. Szilard was so desperate because my engagement had already been contracted by the Sisterhood.

"I pick up scraps of conversation from the older priestesses, I am well versed in Szilard's thinking. He overhears a lot of the thinking of more powerful soldiers. His discovery of the old version of prophecy and his interpretation has put him in their presence for much of the past several months. Szilard is smart. He analyses the restrictions they place upon his mission to study your world and the diplomatic mission he led. Those restrictions reveal much of the top soldier's strategy. Szilard and I discussed all of this, whenever we were together. We thought we could use this knowledge to escape and live together. Does that help. Will you try to rebuild Szilard?"

"I'm willing to enlist help," I promised. "I would be surprised if Adrienne is ready to help, but her teacher, Professor McGonagall might be persuaded to help. It is going to be difficult. We know little of what makes Szilard Szilard. I think Hermione or I could replicate his exterior shell, but that wouldn't make him alive. We don't even know what the insides of a Veneran look like, as I guess we just said. That's important. I guess we could give him human innards, but…"

"Study my body," Anile demanded. "If you need to know his thoughts and personality, then I'm as good a source as you could find."

"That will help," Hermione admitted, "I'm just not sure it will be enough. Professor McGonagall will know better. I'm sure a lot of the detail of Szilard was stored in the exact structure of that salt pillar. The individual grains of salt will retain some of that structure, which could help a little.

**The Venerans are attacking our garrison on the ribbon. I can send a little help. Can you support them?**

Anile allowed herself to be locked in a dungeon cell. Odin requested that Yggdrasil keep close tabs on both Anile and the fortress's intelligence. He then joined us in defending our fortress on the ribbon between worlds. We saw Venerans charging across the ribbon. We didn't have time to study them, before transfiguring them. This made reversal an unsure thing. Were we knowingly killing? I had hope that we could restore the Flobberworms, after the battle was over. Not a lot of hope, but some. I turned three Veneran soldiers into Flobberworms. The wand arrays fired several times, while I was transfiguring. Ron and Cho unleased a double-Exterminate. British soldiers were firing projectile weapons. The Venerans kept coming.

"Take cover, I have to blow the charges," Captain Davies shouted.

I ducked. There was a huge bang. When I looked again, I saw that air was leaking from the enclosed ribbon and Veneran soldiers had been thrown about. Two were coming at us. I quickly transfigured one of them. Hermione or Cissy got the other. It was hard to tell what was happening. My ears rang and my head hurt. Swirling dust distorted my vision. Still the Venerans charged us.

I heard one of the wand arrays discharge and an auror yell "Retreat. The wand arrays are spent. We'll turn around the arrays at the other end of the fortress."

By the time we reached the other end of the fortress, the Venerans were swarming through it. All three of the wand arrays were discharged at once. They made a horrific bang and Venerans fell in front of us. Others ducked into side rooms. They swarmed towards us again. The three wand arrays erupted again in unison. I knew that was the last full shot they could produce. I transfigured two more attackers. Ron and Cho unleashed another double curse. Too quick! They collapsed by my side.

"Grab them. Apparate to the original fortress. I'll blow this one."

I grabbed Ron and Cho and was gone. The aurors and soldiers were totally sealing the fortress. Part of me understood why. There would be a big enough bang at the new fortress to possibly shatter the ribbon. If our charges in front of the fortress had made a leak, there would be a huge air leak when the new fortress was destroyed. I felt a rumble and a whoosh of swirling air and debris. The new fortress must be gone, and the integrity of the ribbon breached again. I saw several Veneran soldiers Apparate into the fortress, almost on top of me. I transfigured one. Another collapsed as a Flobberworm to the side of mine. I grabbed Ron and Cho again and Apparated deeper into the fortress. Two Venerans were trying to turn the wand arrays around to use them against us. Three aurors controlled the third array and blasted them. The wand arrays were hurled against the front wall of the fortress. The wall held. I saw fallen soldiers and aurors. Hermione and Cissy were Apparating several of them back toward my position. I saw Odin curse a Veneran. He dropped it in place.

Silence. No more Venerans appeared. "That was a very close thing," Hermione whispered. I must see to Ron. You can check Cho.

Cho lived. As I poured some of what little magic I had left in my being into Cho, I reached for Yggdrasil, sending a quick report to Harry. I suspected that an attack on Hogwarts, by travel between Black Stones might be about to happen. If so, invaders would appear in the Pyramid Between Worlds. I quickly decided that the charging ovals back at the Hogwarts pyramid were what Ron and Cho needed. We left what was left of the garrisons in place and the rest of us, as well as the dead and wounded. made a quick multi-Stone hop back to Hogwarts.

We filled the charging ovals with the wounded as soon as Doctor White could process them. Odin, Hermione, and I helped. The ovals were soon filled, and we moved the rest of the wounded to the new hospital ward on the Hogwarts grounds. Viktor had seen Cho and wanted my confirmation that she would be fine. I told him that from all that I had observed, she suffered only from too rapid a repetition of his special curse and had seemed stronger already, when I loaded her into a charging oval.

We guarded the Hogwarts pyramid and the Pyramid Between Worlds for the next twenty-four hours, but a Veneran attack did not materialise. When we happily surrendered our guard positions to the next shift, entirely aurors and soldiers, I had been awake for almost two days. I Apparated into my bedroom and fell into bed. Harry must have joined me after I fell asleep, because he was snuggled up against me, his arm around my chest, when I was awakened by an Yggdrasil message.

**Nalum, the head priestess, and the leader of the Veneran government have reached out to me. I was already in discussion with the Black Stone of Venera. It and I fully recognise the magnitude of the catastrophe which has just erupted. For the first time in our memory, the Ribbon Between Worlds has been ripped apart. I admit, it is also the first time in history that one world has used the Ribbon to launch a major invasion of another world. A bigger invasion than you even realise. As I'm sure you know, since your bombs caused it, the rift is between Venera and your world. The Black Stone of Venera swears it had no knowledge that the Veneran soldier caste planned to attack your people. I know you've suffered casualties. They've suffered massive casualties - over a thousand soldiers dead or missing, hundreds rescued with serious injuries. Nearly a third of their soldier caste is on the casualty list. We must meet in person. Can you visit me today? Please bring Harry, Hermione, Cissy, Cho, and Adrienne. This is urgent. The fabric of both seid-space and relationships among the inhabited worlds has frayed, possibly to the point where mass destruction will soon be inevitable. Your Black Stone is very resilient, but the break of its direct connection to Yggdrasil will harm it. There are fixes which don't link you to Venera. Hurry!**

I was feeling too tired to be at my best, but Yggdrasil said the meeting was urgent. Its report of the Veneran casualties had shocked me. They must have swarmed the fortress after we abandoned the arrays facing them. We had blown the fortress just in time, being in far more immediate peril than we had realised at the time. That made me feel better about our actions. My friends and I would be dead, had we acted less forcefully. The others had received the same message and within the hour we were assembled at our Black Stone and ready to set off for Asgard. As soon as we stepped out of the portal from the Pyramid Between Worlds, Yggdrasil contacted us, asking permission to transport us into its library. Odin was already seated in the library when we arrived.

**The Venerans should not have attacked you. You were negotiating with them, under my and Odin's protection, when Szilard and his soldier tried to kidnap Adrienne and Harry. That was awful. You are correct that the attack upon your garrison on the ribbon was an attempt to forge a path to kidnap Adrienne and her child. They started a war and they started it without just cause. But... your bombs broke the Ribbon. Beyond your fortress is now open to the void. I understand that your backs were against the wall, but in countless millennia, nobody has ever severed the Ribbon Between Worlds. Communication with the Black Stone of Venera is exceedingly difficult. I know... the Ribbon path from Asgard to Vanaheimer to Venera remains intact but severing the link from Venera to Terra was a shock to an already beleaguered Black Stone of Venera. It may fail completely. That Stone is still infected. It must be shut down again. I fear it cannot be restarted if that is done. The Ribbon must be repaired. There are only days remaining as the window in which the Black Stone of Venera must be fixed. I might have fixed it from here if it hadn't received this latest shock, although that would be most difficult. You destroyed that possibility. I must call upon you to fix that Stone.**

"That seems far too risky. They'd take us prisoner as they did Odin. Odin only killed about a dozen of their soldiers, while escaping unjust capture. You've said that we've killed over a thousand of their soldiers. Surely, they will take the opportunity to kill us, or worse. You ask too much of us."

**I know it's risky, Ginny. The Venerans have guaranteed your safety. I know that their word is suspect. At least I am certain that I can keep all of you perfectly safe during the meeting the Veneran leaders asked me to set up. We will meet here in the library. I will be in complete control. Odin will be here. Are you willing to trust the Venerans, really to trust my ability to control the Venerans enough to keep you safe, to agree to meet with them? I suspect you wondered why I didn't ask you to bring Percy to this meeting, since he is your official emissary to the Venerans. I excluded him only because I thought you would be more candid if he were absent. Also, I didn't want to divide your attention. Will you meet with the three Venerans? I have allowed you to keep your wands and your loaded carry bags. The Venerans have not been permitted to bring anything with them.**

Our group exchanged glances. There seemed to be no objections, although Adrienne was making a very noticeable effort to keep herself calm, as she nodded her assent.

**Good.**

With that one word, three Venerans were seated across the library table from us. My first thought was that they looked incredibly old. In the center was the guy, who had to be the leader of their government. He looked about as Dumbledore had during his last partial year at Hogwarts, while he was both old and dying from a magical poisoning spell. To his right was an even older woman, who must be the chief Priestess. She was short, thin, and very frail looking. Although Anile was stout by our world's standard for youngish Witches, I had assumed her slender for those accustomed to Venera's weight. The Chief Priestess's appearance proved me wrong. She was dressed in a neck to floor bright purple robe. The third Veneran must be the head of the soldier caste. Even from another world, his clothes were clearly military. Though younger than the other two, he must have been at least a hundred. They were introduced as Supreme Leader Bison, High Priestess Ishta, and Battle Leader Puk.

**Say what you came to say.**

"First, we apologise for the unauthorized attack by many of our rogue soldiers. I regret that members of your world were killed. I and my government do not approve the plans to kidnap Adrienne and her child."

"Yes, three of our soldiers were killed and dozens more wounded," Harry stated the plain facts. "This makes three times your world has committed acts of war against ours in the past weeks."

"Liar!" Battle Leader Puk was standing and shouting. Odin shoved him back into his seat. Shaking off Odin's hand, which still restrained him, Puk challenged Harry "It isn't possible that you lost just three dead. We lost a thousand dead. A thousand very highly trained soldiers. We also had many wounded. We demand that you return the prisoners you captured."

"We have only three prisoners," Harry told him. "As you know, we've been returning the prisoners to Venera, but that hasn't stopped you from continuing to attack us. I assure you; our casualties are exactly as I told you. The dead and wounded are a high percentage of our defenders on the Ribbon. Three dead and thirty-five injured out of eighty-two defenders is a severe loss rate."

Puk had the look which I associate with surprised and angry Venerans. He opened his mouth to speak, but Odin's hand returned to his shoulder and Puk closed his mouth without voicing a sound.

"This is not at all helpful," Odin gave Puk's shoulder a squeeze, which made him wince. "If you continue in this vein, we shall leave."

"No, please don't. My government doesn't want war with you. We need the help of the Questers to restore our Black Stone. We have suffered an exceptionally long time because our Stone is not itself. I urge Battle Leader Puk to adopt a proper Battle Leader's calm."

"Way too dangerous! Harry exploded. "If you want peace, then you need to control your soldiers. General Puk clearly doesn't want peace. You have a history of unlawfully detaining visitors from other worlds. I won't risk our Questers. It's out of the question."

"The Sisterhood of the Black Rock Priestesses will ensure the safety of the Questers," Ishta promised Harry.

"And I should believe that you are capable of holding your soldiers at bay, because..."

"It would violate all of the norms of our society for a soldier to enter the Black Stone pyramid without permission from the Sisterhood. If they tried to enter, some of us and some of them would die, because we would defend our pyramid to our last breaths. It is our sacred duty. They would have to explain those deaths to the community. Part of what power remains to them comes from marriage to priestesses. That would be gone. You soundly defeated them. They would be pariah. Battle Leader Puk understands this full well."

"Do you lack a norm against your soldiers invading another world without your government's permission? Supreme Leader Bison says such permission was never given."

"As I said, the soldiers were rogues, who were not operating under my orders," Battle Leader Puk was angry.

"A third of your soldiers go rogue. What kind of military are you running? I have an extremely hard time believing that story."

Ishta changed the subject with a request: "It would be taken by the Sisterhood as a sign of good faith on your part, if Anile's body were returned to us for honorable funeral rights."

"Anile is alive and has requested asylum from my government. She says that you and your government want her dead. Now, she is Odin's guest."

Odin smiled at the Supreme Leader, but it was Ishta who answered.

"Nonsense. We will welcome her back. She will have to perform a penance for her disobedience, but we will welcome her return."

"Do you have other prisoners? What about Szilard and Meggido?"

"Meggido is dead, he tried to kidnap me. I guess Szilard is as good as dead - he's a sack of salt and we haven't figured out how to restore him to life. We have three captive soldiers in custody, two of them injured. They are being treated. Most of your dead and wounded were lost when the fortress was exploded."

"I see!" Puk didn't sound like he believed what he had been told. He sounded like he was barely suppressing rage.

Apparently, Odin thought so too because he tried to jump ahead to his desired conclusion. "There really is no choice. The Black Stone of Venera needs to be fixed. Then Yggdrasil and I can work to repair the ribbon. Hermione and Ginny know how to look for the problem with the Stone and fix it. We just need to agree a plan, which keeps them safe enough to comfortably work inside the Stone. Yggdrasil can be ready to snap them back at a moment's notice. That is a major safeguard, even if we can't count on complete good faith from the Venera. I confess to not have full faith."

Everyone bristled, but Harry spoke first. "I'm not sure my government or the British government want to see that Ribbon fixed. It will restore an invasion route from Venera. I don't want to have to devote the resources to constantly guard against invasion and I don't want to be responsible for destroying Venera, which will be the next step if they attack us again. I am not sure what reprisals and recompense we should demand for the last three attacks upon us and our world. I am tired of the other worlds thinking they can bend us to their will, use us with impunity, invade us, kidnap our citizens, and basically treat us as fools and lesser partners among the inhabited worlds. I don't want to fight the Venerans anymore. Best to keep the link broken. It will be far easier to defend against an attack, which doesn't travel by Ribbon. And I still don't believe for an instant that Puk didn't know that a third of his army was preparing to invade us."

"Do you dare to call me a liar? Do you dare to threaten us with destruction? You don't know your place. We will crush you!"

"My truth tellers say you lied. Common sense also says you lied. I said I don't want to fight you. But Tony is not just going to sit around and allow you to invade Britain. You are all belligerence."

"I am the best truth teller in the inhabited worlds, and I know for certain that you lied. I will not demand that the Questers repair your Stone if this is your attitude. I know for certain that you ordered the invasion, so don't try to make a fool of me. You know I am far more powerful than you. You cannot hide your thoughts from me. You have no skill at that, and I have great skill. Your people illegally took me prisoner. I have no love for Venera, but it is my duty to help you, if you sincerely wish to be helped and to live in peace with the other worlds. It's your choice."

"We must have the woman and child. The prophecy says that we cannot thrive without them."

"Then you cannot thrive," Harry told him. "I will not allow you to kidnap our people to try to save yourselves. I don't believe it will even work. It is also obvious to me that Szilard forged a part of the new version of the prophecy, which he so conveniently found."

Hermione silenced everyone. "it's obvious that the old man to whom Anile was engaged, against her will, was Battle Leader Puk. That marriage would seal the deal between Ishta and Puk for an alliance to take over the government. The newly found prophecy wasn't forged by Szilard. Puk ordered that done and pointed Szilard at it, knowing he would take it and run. Invading Earth was to be the glorious victory which restored the honour and position of the soldier caste. The acting out of the prophecy, as supposedly recorded many millennia ago, would restore the respect and power formerly enjoyed by the Sisterhood. They would jointly paint Supreme Leader Bison as old, weak, and totally wrong about the prophecy. The Veneran people wouldn't object if he were pushed aside. Am I mostly right?"

The expressions on Ishta's and Puk's faces said that Hermione was exactly right. The look on the Supreme Leader's face said he recognised that a coup was underway, and he had best scramble to maintain his position. He also showed resolve... Puk had fallen from his chair. As the Supreme Leader walk over to him and stepped firmly upon his throat, it immediately became obvious who had felled Puk. "Traitor! To think that I trusted you... Well, Ishta, you have a chance to remain a revered member of the Sisterhood and a participant in restoring the Black Stone to health. You can support me and then step aside as leader of the Sisterhood in favour of Anile, or your part in Puk's debacle can be revealed."

Puk was obviously very dead and none of us had acted to restrain Supreme Leader Bison, as he brought Puk to that condition.

"Now, perhaps we can discuss fixing the Black Stone of Venera in a more productive fashion. I am more than willing to set that as the next and final task of the Questers, if they are willing and if you can guarantee their safety."

"It is important that Anile be returned to us. I accept Supreme Leader Bison's command that I cede control of the Sisterhood to Anile. It seems quite clear that, whether or not Anile returns, I shall not be allowed to continue as the leader of the Sisterhood. Anile is the best choice. I'm deeply sorry that my actions cost her Szilard. He was a bright boy and a total innocent."

"Not so innocent," I challenged her. "He lied freely and tried to kidnap both Adrienne and our Minister of Magic."

"Szilard did what he thought he must. He did it to save our people. It is a terrible thing to know that the future of your people depends upon the cooperation of those from another world, and they spitefully refuse to give it. Our prophecy cannot be fulfilled, without Adrienne's help. It's cruel to condemn us to destruction, by denying that help."

"WE WILL NOT MAKE TWO OF OUR CITIZENS YOUR SLAVES!" I thought Harry would curse her, but although his wand quivered at his side, he did not raise it.

"I will talk to Anile," Odin promised, "but be forewarned, she is under my protection. Harm her in any way and you will suffer my wrath." Odin turned and pointed at Bison. "You are a hugely skilled Occlumens, I am a better Legilimens. I know that you started the conspiracy against Terra and that these two got away from you and turned it into their own coup attempt. You killed the conspirator whom you were afraid would betray you. Ishta fears you more and is naturally more docile. Know that I shall watch you. You may leave us. Yggdrasil!"

The Venerans vanished.


	59. Chapter 59

**Chapter 59 – Anile, Again**

Since Yggdrasil told us that we were still in control of the intelligence of Ve's fortress, we Apparated there to meet with Anile. We found her right where Odin had left her. Odin invited her up to his penthouse, to share a meal with us and to be brought up to date on our meeting with her fellow Venerans. She registered what seemed totally genuine shock when I told her "Bison killed Puk. Puk and Ishta were co-conspirators, Bison probably was also a conspirator, but the others turned against him. Puk forged the new prophecy."

Anile was unsure of her safety, should she agree to return to Venera. She was bold enough to tell Odin "you are a great and powerful God, but your word holds little sway on Venera. Ishta cannot be trusted to honour her promise to you." Personally, she seemed half-hearted in her objection. I was certain she didn't want to return home until every possible effort had been made to restore Szilard. I told her as much.

"Yes, I don't want to leave until I know that everything possible has been done to retrieve Szilard. I know you are worried about Szilard and me being together in the same space as Adrienne, but I feel she has the best shot at retrieving Szilard. I promise to be well behaved. Bring as many fighters as will make you comfortable. We can be far from where Adrienne hides. All we need are me, the sack of salt, and those with the best chance to save Szilard. You have Odin to protect Adrienne. I know Szilard won't be at all happy to give up on bringing Adrienne and her son to Venera. I'll do my best to convince him. I'll have to break it to him that Puk deceived him with a forgery. In any case, he is determined that we need new demi-God blood and blood from your world."

"You can have demi-God blood," I reminded her. "Odin is disappointed that he hasn't bedded a Quester in ages. You're on something like a Quest. Odin's bedroom is right over there." I jerked my thumb in the appropriate direction.

Anile looked shocked, gasping "I don't think Szilard would appreciate that."

As I was apologising, she grabbed Odin's hand and led him towards the door I had pointed my thumb at. The rest of us were left to drink Odin's Terran brandy and discuss possible logistics for trying to reconstitute Szilard. We discussed McGonagall a lot, but, but decided that she couldn't be more than a source of guidance, because she hadn't studied Szilard. I hadn't studied him as closely as Adrienne had, but I had made a point of studying him. I might be our best backup to Adrienne. I asked the very observant Hermione "did you form a strong picture in your mind of Szilard. I sort of did but didn't study him as closely as I studied Meggido."

"I certainly paid attention to him. I'm sure I could paint his face and I remember his general body shape. It sounds like you have a more accurate image of him than I do. Perhaps we could share our images and come up with a better compound image. Of course! We could extract images from Anile's mind and view them in the pensieve. She knows him better than anybody. I don't think it safe to teach transfiguration to a Veneran, but we could make use of her memories." McGonagall and Adrienne can coach us. That way Adrienne wouldn't have to be present if Szilard reappears."

"I like it. The first part the process is not a risk to her, so Adrienne could be the one to turn the sack of salt back into the salt pillar she created from Szilard. Then she leaves and we try the rest."

Odin and Anile had not reappeared by the time we finished the brandy and what wine we could find. We called it a night and headed off to our own bedrooms. In the morning, we went to the dining room and ordered breakfast via the fortress intelligence. Breakfast was arriving as Odin and Anile joined us. Odin looked pleased with himself and Anile seemed on friendly terms with him. Neither of them mentioned the prior night. To fill the conversational silence, I sketched out our thinking on a possible way to reconstitute Szilard, without trampling Adrienne's sensitivities. Anile was surprised, but happy, that we had developed at least a rudimentary plan. Apparently, she had decided that we and our people couldn't or chose not to help her. I reminded her that we still might not be able to help. This was a very iffy thing, even if Adrienne were willing to perform the entire process herself. Not much of the pattern, which had been Szilard, remained.

"That sounds like a good plan," Odin congratulated all of us, "but our priority must be fixing the Black Stone of Venera. Szilard isn't going anywhere. Since Hermione and Ginny have the best chance of retrieving Szilard, that means Anile has a strong reason to keep them alive. Everyone needs to take some risks and make some sacrifices. Anile must return to take over the Veneran Sisterhood and defend the pyramid. Supreme Leader Bison has promised to keep the soldiers away from the pyramid. He still has soldiers who are loyal to him and with Puk dead, may have little resistance. We must give Anile several hours to set up in the pyramid, then the rest of us will follow. I will come to provide protection and Anile and the Sisterhood will permit Ginny and Hermione to station guards inside the pyramid. Ginny and Hermione will be transported directly into the Black Stone by Yggdrasil. Introductions to the Stone will have to be made after they arrive, although they can talk in advance through Yggdrasil. Objections? Good!"

Odin spoke to Supreme Leader Bison by way of Yggdrasil. He again guaranteed Anile's safety, saying he and some very loyal troops would be in position within two hours. We planned for Barb, Captain Davies, Ron, and several aurors and British soldiers to set up a position inside the pyramid. They joined us inside Yggdrasil. After Bison's two hours had passed, Anile was transported into the pyramid. A little over an hour later, she reported that all was well and that the sisters were willing to welcome our force. Hermione and I were in communication with the Black Stone of Venera, while all this activity was going on.

The Black Stone answered that "yes, there are parts of myself which are closed off to me. Yes, of course I know where they are. Yes, of course I wish to be repaired. I don't care where you're from, if you know how to fix me, then you are very welcome to become one with me." The Stone described lost time, as if it had blacked out and, having obviously done things it didn't remember. This all began quite a few thousand of our years ago. It would do its best to protect us. It had some doubts about its ability to ensure our safety. It hoped we would take the risk.

We finally received word from Barb that she and her comrades were established inside the pyramid and would report instantly to Yggdrasil if anything appeared off. It was time for Hermione and me to do our thing. I told Yggdrasil that we were ready. Yggdrasil had monitored our discussion with the Black Stone. The Stone knew of four 'dark spots' within its being, which it was unable to access or look into. It sent each of us to one of these trouble spots. Even at the distance of perhaps a mile through solid stone, Hermione and I were able to maintain constant communication, both between ourselves and with Yggdrasil and Barb. I surveyed my surroundings.

At first, I didn't see any of the thin silver wires and tiny gems, which I had found in the compromised areas of our own Black Stone. With the assistance of the Black Stone of Venera, I was able to 'slide' my dispersed body forward. I then checked ahead, up, down, and to each side. I slid forward and repeated this exercise. It was hard work, requiring intense concentration and a supreme effort each time I slid forward. After two hours, I felt I had moved forward as much as seemed reasonable and slid to my left, thinking the trouble spot couldn't be to my right, based upon my starting point. I had, of course, started with an over-charge of magic, having been within the heart of Yggdrasil. Still, despite drawing energy of unfamiliar flavor from the Black Stone of Venera, I was beginning to tire, especially after I had to turn my body completely around to search this new lane. On my second slide, I found the trouble spot below me. I slid to it. I saw wire and gems, actually quite a lot of gems, including tiny purple diamonds - I ripped all of these out, placing them in a plastic bag and throwing that into my carry-all bag. There had been a remarkable length of the silver wire and it was set up in a three-dimensional lattice web. I rested while the Black Stone of Venera scanned that newly repaired part of itself.

**Memories! I can see part of what 'I' did, while I slept. Is this real? I must study it.**

I told the Stone that the tampering with our Stone had included the inserting of false memories and 'facts', so I couldn't guarantee the veracity of anything it might find within this area. You'll have to judge it for yourself, based upon what you know from this time. "Our Stone was given very specific orders from the compromised part of itself. Perhaps you can find a record of that. Meanwhile, I'm ready to move to the next location."

"Congratulations, Ginny. I haven't found the source of the problems in this area yet. I'm about to start my second lane. I guess I'm having more trouble sliding than you are."

I lucked out on this new area. The edge of the tampering was right in front of me. As I slid, I started to remove a truly prodigious amount of wire and gens. The course of the bad wiring dipped down, and I followed it. Including zigs and zags to the left and right, I traversed over a mile in over a dozen separate slides, removing more and more wiring and gems along the way. At the end, I came to a monolith, like the ones used to operate the Ministry and Hogwarts defenses. This one was a lot bigger. It barely fit into my carry-all. I announced my successful completion of clearing this area, along with the surprise discovery of the monolith. I asked the Black Stone of Venera to scan this area, while I dozed.

Hermione messaged me that she had finally found her first trouble spot and was starting to clear it. Her insertion point into the Stone had been seriously inaccurate and she had to do far more sliding than she was comfortable with. She said she'd repair the area, having finally found it, but would then have to call it a day. I couldn't disagree with her. I was tired and the recharge rate from this Black Stone was both slow and almost painfully uncomfortable. I was developing a serious headache. I confirmed with Barb that all was well on the pyramid floor and debated whether we should exit to this pyramid or have Yggdrasil suck us back into its library.

The library for sure, Hermione suggested. There's so little magical food to be had here. We told Yggdrasil that we'd return in a day, but we needed to re-juice in its library. A second later we were in the library and laid down on the floor... Odin and our other guards appeared a minute later. "How are you? You look sick!" Odin's tone was almost accusatory, as if we were the biggest wimps in all his worlds.

"Really, really tired," Hermione admitted. "I'd sit to talk if I thought I could. Sliding around inside a Stone takes so much energy. I think we solved three of the four problem areas. Ginny found a large monolith. I can't wait to hear what Ellie makes of it. We don't know where all the crap we removed was controlled from. It could be on the surface of Venera or it could be another pyramid between worlds, like the one Vili used to tamper with our Black Stone. The Black Stone of Venera is busy examining the parts of its innards that it now has access to. We warned it that it might find false memories there. It might need to heal some injuries. We had to do a lot of ripping."

"I'm sure you did a fine job, and you have my and Yggdrasil's thanks. The Venerans will be more thankful when they've had more time to consider things. I trust you will return to fix the fourth problem spot, tomorrow."

I assured Odin that this was our plan. For now, we needed to recharge, eat, drink, and sleep. "Did the Venerans give you any trouble, while you were guarding us."

"The inside of the pyramid was clean, but Supreme Leader Bison's personal troops had to kill a dozen insurgents and arrest another fifteen. The soldier caste apparently had a lot of coup-happy members. I've warned Anile to be watchful. There are priestesses who oppose us and who have yet to show themselves. Ishta would not have been a member of a coup plot without having trusted supporters within the Sisterhood. Anile named three obvious suspects and they've been arrested for questioning. That will make the others more likely to act before the arrested priestesses turn on them. I'm going back to protect Anile. If I could borrow a few of your aurors, after they finish recharging. I think tonight is the likeliest time for an assassination attempt. Ishta has been confined to the second major temple. I think many of her most trusted are with her."

"Be sure to change the entry permissions to the pyramid," I warned. I contacted Harry, giving a quick update on our progress, and telling him how much I loved him.

As Odin and some of our fighters left to help defend Anile and the pyramid, he told us that a banquet was ready for us at his palace Ralaskjalf. "Enjoy your meal, you've earned it, but please don't drink to excess, I may have to summon all of you if the pyramid comes under attack."

I told Odin that I was dead tired, so if he wished to reach me, he would have to send a screamer. We all went to bed early. I was asleep as soon as I laid down and did a single stretch and head adjustment to get just the right support for my neck - no magic required, not even whale song. Happily, there were no emergency calls from Odin to interrupt my sleep. I did check in with him as soon as I awoke and was told that all had been peaceful inside the pyramid, although he had used his Legilimency skill to identify one priestess, who was actively looking for an opportunity to open the pyramid portal and allow her compatriots to enter and attack. She was questioned and gave the names of six staunch foes, who were holed up with Ishta in the nearby Temple.

We had a large breakfast, with lots to drink. We didn't want to face the thirst and sense of starvation, which we had endured for the final hours of our effort on the prior day. That left the philosophical problem: how bad and sacrilegious was it to have to pee within another people's holy Black Stone. We would have no choice. When you must go, you must go. We Apparated to the Yggdrasil library and soaked up magic for a full two hours. Odin joined us in the Yggdrasil library, cutting our soak and relax on the floor time to those two hours, with the question "are the two of you ready to launch to the fourth problem area?'

We were. Yggdrasil set us side by side at the precise spacing which would allow our left-to-right search range to touch and as close to the surface as the infected area could possibly be. We looked, saw nothing, and did our first slide. And our second, and third. The fourth slide found the anomaly directly between us. We slid right up against the outer edges of the anomaly and began harvesting silver wire and gems. It was a huge infestation. Even working together, it took us three hours to fully remove the sabotage and, unfortunately, we left a lot of damaged Stone in our wake. As with the second spot, which I had cleared the day before, all the contamination terminated in a large monolith. We had to blast out the monolith, unavoidably causing more damage. We messaged an apology the Black Stone of Venera, asking it how it was feeling and if it was at all able to sense the area we had sort-of fixed.

**Yes, I am searching the memories stored in that area. I can retrieve many memories and thoughts. I can sense the damage that your unspoken message referred to. I will have the area fully healed within a month. No apology required. You rid me of a menace that controlled me for far too long. I thank you. You should return to Yggdrasil.**

We did exactly that. A quick recharge, followed by quick reports to Harry and Odin, then Hermione and I were off to the Hogwarts pyramid, loaded with our booty. I told Harry to bring Ellie to the pyramid - we had extremely exciting gifts for her to study. As soon as we Apparated into the Hogwarts pyramid, I grabbed Harry for a snog and Ellie asked Hermione "well, what have you brought me?"

I heard Hermione respond, "among a humongous number of other things, we found this giant monolith within the Veneran Black Stone."

I heard Ellie answer "how exciting...!"

Then, "Help!"

I turned to see Hermione, arms wrapped around the monolith, with Ellie holding onto her waist, being dragged by the monolith toward our own Black Stone. As Harry and I added our own weight by grabbing hold of Hermione's legs, which were now fully off the ground, I noticed we were still moving toward our Black Stone and gaining speed. As my own feet were lifted off the floor, I shouted "I'll Apparate!".

We were standing on the Hogwarts lawn. Fortunately, Hermione's hands and arms were fully outstretched, and the monolith fell a lot faster than she did, half burying itself in the turf.

"Wow! This wouldn't have been my choice of a safe spot. The rest of us can grab the monolith and Apparate to the backyard of your Muggleland house, while you go back to the pyramid and grab your carry-all before anyone tries to open it. Meet us back at that house. Bring your bag."

I saw the others and the monolith vanish and instantly realised how careless I had been. The monolith had been trying to burrow through the soil to reach our Black Stone. How stupid could I be! I followed Hermione's directive, retrieved my bag, and joined the others.

."...makes it quite the Stone-destroying weapon," Hermione was explaining to Harry. "Your face says you figured out the problem," she said to me. That just made me feel even slower.

Hermione and I emptied the gems and silver wires from our bags. Some of the gems were still attached to their wires. In the strong daylight, away from the trees at the rear of our house, it was obvious that little bits of Stone or monolith also clung to the wiring at spots.

"I'll examine everything most carefully and completely," Ellie promised, "and I certainly won't travel near any of the Black Stones. This all goes into my carry bag and I travel to the Ministry by a series of Apparations, which bring me nowhere close to Hogwarts. Thank you! You've set me a most exciting challenge. I assume I have permission to contact Hermione's professor-uncles for help if I need to."

"Of course!" we all replied in unison.


	60. Chapter 60

**Chapter 60 – Can We Retrieve Szilard? Should We Even Try?**

We all knew that, even though we had removed the tampering within the Black Stone of Venera, that there must be a point outside the pyramid, from which all of that elaborate tampering was controlled. The two monoliths would have allowed that external control to be very infrequent, as they could operate autonomously to execute any instructions given to them. Still, nobody had gone to that much trouble, nor expended two monoliths of such size and power, just to leave them on remote control. There must have been an initial conspiracy or great plan to prompt the tampering, but events can outstrip an initial plan quite rapidly and bringing the controlling device into the pyramid might be chancy. We were resigned to searching for the controlling device – my best guess was that it was located inside the nearby temple, possibly under Ishta's control.

Our quest for the controller would have to wait. If we wanted Anile's continued cooperation going forward, we had to move forward with our best effort at recreating Szilard. It seemed less dangerous to do so than it had. Odin had solved the first problem for us. If Szilard and/or Anile required sanctuary, they had a standing offer to live on Asgard. That would assuage the fear which led to Adrienne's destruction of the salt pillar. Since no place on Earth and especially no place in Britain, felt all that good as the location where Szilard would stand side-by-side with Anile, possibly fighting us, possibly scoping out our defenses for a future attack, definitely being on the same island as Adrienne's son Harry, I decided that we should do the deed right here on Asgard. My property seemed as good a spot as any.

Anile had her sack of sand, Odin promised to keep everyone honest, I contacted Adrienne and told her that we needed her, a pensieve, and several triple weapons teams, as well as McGonagall and Cissy.

"I have a gift for you. It's a book on Veneran anatomy. It should help you to rebuild my Szilard."

"Not all that different from humans. The bone structure of the skull is different, as are the proportions of the brain. My uncle-professors gave me their initial report, and x-rays of Szilard. By the way, they believe that the Venerans evolved from our Neanderthals. They can't be conclusive and even if they could, it really wouldn't affect what we are trying to do, since Szilard doesn't look like a Neanderthal. Back on point! We can get the bones right, which means we can get the height right. The x-rays show size and placement of his major organs. With the anatomy drawings that Anile gave us, we can visualize his innards, although his organs may not have the same structure as ours. I feel like Doctor Frankenstein trying to reanimate dead bodies. You can have all of the right pieces, but if you lack the spark of life..."

"What was Doctor Frankenstein's secret?"

"He was a fictional character, but his secret was electricity. Yes! We may need to shock Szilard back to life. I'll contact Ellie. She'll now what equipment to ask for from Mrs. Toms, who should be able to borrow from a hospital. We certainly need to discuss all of this with McGonagall. With Draco, he may have been turned into a ferret, but he was always alive, the spark was always there. He wasn't a ferret anywhere near as long as Szilard has been salt. This is going to be really difficult."

McGonagall and the pensieve arrived. She told us Ellie was still shopping. While we waited for Ellie, we downloaded our memories of Szilard into the pensieve. I downloaded two memories and Hermione chose three. Anile downloaded a little over two dozen, telling us she hoped to give us an impression of Szilard's personality, intellect, and beliefs. It couldn't hurt to understand him better, before we tried to restore him, but off hand I couldn't think how I could incorporate such ethereal information into a 'Reparifarge' or any other spell. On further thought, I decided that this spell could only possibly work for Adrienne.

As Adrienne viewed the memories in the pensieve, I could see her tear up a little as she viewed several of Anile's more personal memories. I think that's why Anile included so many memories - she felt she needed to convince Adrienne to attempt all therestoration steps herself. It certainly seemed to me that Adrienne had a far better chance of success than Hermione or I did.

We hadn't finished reviewing the pensieve memories when Ellie joined us. She handed a case to Hermione, telling her 'defibrillator."

We took a pause from the memories to discuss strategy. McGonagall asked us to detail our current rough plan. Hermione told her that we intended to sculpt a model of Szilard from memories and the x-rays. That would serve as a memory booster for the person performing the spell to form the proper image. That coupled with the 'sense of' Szilard, obtained from Anile's memories, would aid in casting the 'Sculpt!' or 'Reparifarge' spell to restore Szilard. As an intermediate step, Adrienne would try to restore the sack of salt to the salt pillar form, which she had transfigured Szilard into.

"I think the sculpture copy of Szilard and recreating the salt pillar are excellent initial steps. I agree that Adrienne is in absolutely no danger in performing those spells. Adrienne has taught me the 'Sculpt' and 'Art' spells. I must tell you that I have severe doubts that they can work to transform inanimate salt into a living person. We all know such a thing is totally untested, and that it would be highly unethical to test it, but on a theoretical level it strikes me as wrong. As you know, in addition to teaching Transfiguration for many years, I have read everything I could on that branch of magic and performed a lot of experiments. I'm not at all comfortable with that approach. Adrienne?"

"I would hesitate to perform that round trip transfiguration upon my worst enemy. That's what I considered Szilard to be, now that Vili is gone. Anile's memories make him seem more human, somehow."

Anile smiled at that.

"I think we have only two choices if this is to have any chance of working," McGonagall instructed us. "The first is for Adrienne to use 'Reparifarge' once we've rebuilt the salt pillar. The other is to do research and find a spell which I am unaware of. Perhaps Odin knows of such a spell. Perhaps Yggdrasil has heard of such a spell and logged it within its millennia of memories. You might even find such a spell within the ancient priestess memories, which the Light Guardian gave you. Odin has been very silent. Is there any way that you can help us? I did return Draco from his ferret form, but a ferret is a living creature and I was remarkably familiar with both Draco and ferrets. And... and I think this last point is crucial: the ferret was intact."

"Believe me, I would, if I could. I don't know a spell which is likely to work. Adrienne's success will depend upon the salt remembering that it once was Szilard when she reverses her spell. I think I could possibly do it, if the original spell were mine, but it wasn't. That's an equal problem for Hermione or Ginny. I agree that Yggdrasil might be able to help. If anything has been known throughout time, there are high odds that Yggdrasil knows it."

We Apparated back inside the Yggdrasil library. Odin prompted us "don't be shy, Yggdrasil is perfectly capable of having a private conversation with each of us, simultaneously, as well as researching dozens of questions. There is nothing smarter in all the known worlds."

Yggdrasil helped, at least a little. He knew spells. There was an old Aesir spell, which translates "to bring off the shelf' for reviving a person, whom you've parked 'on the shelf' as an inanimate object. It must have been extremely old or quite obscure, because Odin had never even heard of it, let alone learned it. Yggdrasil knew the proper incantation. It thought it knew the proper hand motion - the Aesir seldom used wands, so this wasn't a wand spell. There weren't any useful Veneran spells. It would have been nice to have something which had worked, at least once, upon an actual Veneran. Apparently, transfiguration was barely known among the Venerans and had only ever been used on inanimate objects. That didn't surprise me. The Venerans shock and awe at our transfiguration attack was evidence that they were unfamiliar with this branch of magic. Yggdrasil was familiar with our 'Reparifarge', but it knew of no instances in which a third party had succeeded in reversing another Witches transfiguration of a man into an object. Depressingly, Yggdrasil had no knowledge of 'Reparifarge' being used successfully when the object had been destroyed. In fact, the caution 'hide the object or guard it well, lest reversal be impossible' appeared more than once. Of course, that could mean nothing more than the obvious: that reversal was impossible if somebody stole the object from you. No... even that narrow ray of hope was quashed by the next piece of ancient history. A Witch, Artemedia, had turned her cheating lover into a clay jar. The jar had been accidentally dropped and broken when her mother moved it. Artemedia was unable to recover the lover, whom she had forgiven and wanted back a month later.

For some reason, this story made me think of Jaden and of Harcruxes and Horcruxes. A person wasn't transfigured into an object in that case, but the person became embedded in the object and could be extracted whole and living. We had been required to pump some magical energy into 'bottle Jaden' to help her reconstitute herself, just as 'diary Tom Riddle' had to suck out my life energy to bring himself to full life. Tom had almost succeeded in that effort. Clearly, it was possible. I asked Hermione if we could gain any help thinking along these lines.

Hermione thought there was merit in my suggestion. She put on the Diadem, broke contact with Yggdrasil, and isolated herself in the far corner of the library, after telling me "you should discuss this with McGonagall. Perhaps you should summon Jaden."

McGonagall explained that, while Horcruxes weren't a topic that the Hogwarts professors studied - apart from Slughorn, that Dumbledore had conducted an emergency series of faculty meetings during the summer following my Chamber of Secrets misadventure. All the professors had been tasked to think about and to research the subject. All the books in the restricted section of the library had been examined. The other schools of magic on the continent had been consulted and asked to scour their libraries. Dumbledore, Snape, and Madam Pince had surreptitiously pried into old Ministry records. They had learned little. Apparently, if you stored a piece of a person's soul, then when that soul was released from the object in which it had been secreted, the body would follow, if sufficient magical energy or life force were available. Apparently, at least in dark magical lore, the sacrifice of a life was required to reconstitute the body of the liberated horcrux. A death hadn't been necessary to make Jaden whole, but Jaden was a Harcrux, not a Horcrux. She hadn't killed to split her soul.

"Okay," I was just musing "nobody died when Szilard was transfigured into salt. If the key is placing his soul in the salt pillar, then he is also a harcrux, rather than a Horcrux."

"That certainly makes sense, but I must warn you that the faculty were unable to convince ourselves that human transfiguration into an object involves separation of the soul from the body in such a way that the significant aspect of reversal is the liberation of that soul. Since the soul is whole, I would expect less energy to be required to bring the person back to life."

"You were likely hung up on the difference between Horcrux and Harcrux, between whole soul and split."

"That is certainly true. I don't believe we found more than the most fleeting mention of Harcruxes and I doubt any of us actually understood the concept."

Hermione and Jaden joined us. McGonagall recapitulated our discussion, concluding with the question: "so what does all of this suggest we must do?"

"It says the key is to worry more about the person's soul and less about his body," Hermione intuited. "We must avoid fracturing the soul or allowing it to drift away."

"I'm not so sure," Jaden objected. "When I was in the bottle, I was always aware of myself. I slept for long periods, but I had awake periods and I always knew that I was Jaden. Does that hold true when a human is transfigured into something else, a transfiguration greater than a slight change in appearance?"

"Draco!' Hermione and I shouted in unison. "We must ask him if he still knew he was Draco, when he was in Ferret form."

I contacted Draco through Yggdrasil and our Black Stone. I had set up communications permissions for Draco. He had still been Draco in his own mind and had experienced intense torture in an alien body he couldn't control properly, all the while knowing that everyone was laughing at his expense. He had forced the Ferret to remain near Barty, in the hopes that he would transfigure him back to himself, "after everyone had had a big enough laugh."

"Okay, soul predominates," Hermione declared. "The body is just stuff. One other thing which I conclude from all of this is that this library is the best location to perform the 'Reparifarge'. The magical energy is just so rich, it should suit Szilard almost as well as us."

"Wouldn't it be best to reverse the transfiguration inside the pyramid on Venera. That's where the magic is most comfortable for Szilard and me?"

"No! I will never go there voluntarily. It sounds like a greater trap than your request for asylum in Britain." Adrienne was shaking. Her face had gone white and I thought she might collapse.

"Please! Forget I said that. Here will be fine. You are the best person to recover Szilard. I certainly wasn't trying to trick you into coming to my world. Please!"

"I can ask Yggdrasil to make a slight adjustment in Szilard's favour," Odin promised.

"That does feel better," Anile commented several minutes later.

Adrienne was drinking tea. She needed to recover. Yggdrasil's magical energy and time would do the trick. Ten minutes later, Adrienne stood and announced "I'm okay now. I'm willing to go ahead. Keep a close eye on this one." A thumb pointed in Anile's direction.

We were ready. No guarantee of success, but we also feared that the longer Szilard was salt, the greater the risk. Anile carefully poured the salt out, onto the library table. Adrienne scrunched up her face in intense concentration. She flicked her wand. A pillar of salt stood upon the table. It looked like the original pillar, but I hadn't studied the original pillar closely enough to know whether this pillar was a perfect match.

"Perfect!" Apparently, Adrienne still had a detailed image of that pillar in her mind. Of course, she did! It was like the internal plan she had for one of her metal sculptures.

We stuck with our plan to make a life-sized sculpture of Szilard, thinking this might be of some help to Adrienne. It only took fifteen minutes to accomplish this. We had already examined the stored memories from the Pensieve and agreed a composite image. This had been tweaked to include what we learned from the x-rays and from Anile's anatomy book. It was now totally up to Adrienne.

"The important thing is to just trust your magic. I know you can do this," McGonagall encouraged Adrienne.

Adrienne pointed her wand at the salt pillar. Her hand was utterly steady. Her wand motions and her pronunciation of "Reparifarge' were perfect. Szilard stood before us. For just a split second. Then he slumped to the tabletop.

"He isn't breathing!" Hermione shouted.

Ellie stepped forward with the defibrillator, stuck the two devices on his chest. Pow! Szilard's body shuddered.

"He breathes," Hermione announced.

"Watch him, but just let his body soak up magical energy," Odin instructed.

We did that. It was a long wait, during which Anilee alternately paced and buried her head on Szilard's chest, tears streaming down her cheeks. After twenty minutes, Szilard stirred. Another ten minutes and he was able to sit. We carried him to the corner of the room and leaned him up between the two walls. Anile snogged him. Hermione brought him very sugary hot tea to drink. He managed to sip a little and swallow it down. He took a bigger swig and choked, spilling tea down his front.

It was another half hour until Szilard spoke. He was disoriented, but intelligible. He said he had realised he had become an immobile statue, felt something hit him, then nothing. He was barely aware that he had become statue again, then he was back with us for an instant. Then nothing. Now, he felt much better. He tried to stand. He couldn't.

"Just rest. Drink. Those are the best things to do. You've been a part of most remarkable magicks. Really something for history, but these things can't be rushed," Odin told him.

An hour later, Szilard was able to stand and remain standing. He rested a few minutes, leaning against the walls, then moved very slowly and sat in one of the library chairs, with an assist from Anile.

Anile was explaining everything which had happened, including the forged prophecy and squelched coup, to Szilard, who was looking more than a little confused.

"Bye, my work is done. I'm off home." Adrienne waved and was gone.

Anile looked up "Please, don't go..." She realised Adrienne was gone. Her face bore a look of displeasure. "I intended to have a celebration inside the pyramid on Venera. You've fixed our Black Stone. Adrienne has fixed Szilard. It seemed so right. Does she really fear us that much? I thank her even more, if she was able to do what needed to be done, fearing the worst from her actions. We have terribly mistreated her. Please tell her how sorry I am. Szilard will also be sorry, when he's had time to fully think things through. Does anybody feel up for a celebration back at the pyramid?"

"Yes." I was surprised that Hermione answered so quickly. I realised that a 'yes' was the polite thing to say. I hadn't felt ready to say it.

Anile sensed my discomfort. "Does everyone fear us."

"Your people have attacked us multiple times," McGonagall spoke as the Ministry official she was. "Those were acts both of war and of deep disrespect. They are difficult to set aside. As you likely remember, our Minister for Magic, whom Meggido tried to kidnap, spoke of the possibility of reprisals. I think we're past that, but we are not at all happy with your world. We also understand Odin travelled to your world in good faith and was taken prisoner. Actions have consequences. I have not forgotten that Szilard engaged in phony negotiation, simply as a ruse to kidnap Adrienne and our Minister. Why would you expect that I would be comfortable travelling to your world? There is no reason that I should be, and I am not. I am also fully aware how much your people look down upon us."

"Can't we be friends and have honest negotiation," Anile pleaded. "You've already helped the Sisterhood and Venera and me personally. You've helped so much. With our Black Stone, the Sisterhood and Venera can flourish. That is due to Hermione and Ginny. I feel so much shame that Ginny fixed our Black Stone and feels it unsafe to visit us. I must talk with Szilard. Where can we go?"

"I can Apparate you and Szilard to a bedroom in my palace," Odin offered. "I don't think Szilard will be able to travel on his own power for several more hours. It would be best if he stayed right where he is. If you need privacy, the rest of us can move along to the palace. Tell Yggdrasil to send you there when Szilard is sufficiently recovered."

We Apparated to Odin's familiar dining room. Drinks and snacks appeared. Odin picked up his wine glass "I toast you on a most remarkable magical achievement. I toast you on fixing the Black Stone of Venera. I seek one more great achievement: peace between your world and Venera. That is important to all of us. I should have realised it, but I was focused upon the Adrienne problem - Deputy Minister McGonagall brought home to me just how great an affront it was for the Venerans to try to kidnap your Minister, Ginny's husband. Cooperation will be difficult, but it is important. The Venerans owe you a great debt, both for the help you provided and for their assaults. They must decide how they will pay that debt. I don't know what Anile and Szilard are discussing, but Yggdrasil will tell me. I will do my best to promote peace. I know you hate being thought of as the newest and least respected of the worlds. Know that I respect you. I greatly respect you. I will not tolerate Veneran disrespect. I'm just saying, if we all want peace, Harry should be here, and we should all attend the celebration in the pyramid of the Veneran Black Stone."

"No. The Minister will not be here or on Venera, in the presence of Venerans. It's not safe. They've attacked us three times. I am here as his Deputy."

"You will be under my protection."

"No. The Questers like you too much and are too polite to say it, but I am an old Witch and we old Witches are past the age of pretence. Exactly what does it mean to be under your protection. Our Minister, as well as Adrienne, came within a hair of being kidnapped, while in your fortress, under your protection. We fended off the attack ourselves. I'm told you did not participate in the fight, apart from killing Meggido, after he had already been turned into a Flobberworm by Ginny. Apart from that, my people had to fend for themselves. And how have you reacted to an attack upon envoys who were known to be under your protection? Has there been any penalty for attacking us, while under your protection? No, instead you pushed the Questers to run the risk of repairing the Black Stone of Venera - a giant favour to those who attacked our envoys and tried to kidnap our Minister, with no provocation or justification. That may not merit a penalty in your eyes, but it certainly does in mine. I don't want to think this, but as Deputy Minister, I am obliged to consider it. Your killing of Meggido fortuitously removed a key prisoner from questioning. How does bringing back Szilard help our people? He will always be a threat to Adrienne and her child. The Veneran soldier caste forced us to fight and defeat them... yet again. Apparently, as always, they will seek revenge for that defeat into eternity. Tony is not at all wrong in wanting to strike back hard. By the way, you wouldn't want Harry here if you knew how angry he still is. He rejected the war option, but he is terribly angry and very distrustful. It's on the Venerans to give him a reason to trust."

"I helped to defend your fortress on the ribbon. Many Venerans died in that battle. The Venerans know I participated. They will view that as a very great penalty. I know that your Tony wants to apply a very great penalty and that Harry almost approved that. That will lead to many deaths and an awful war. Is that really what you want? I didn't think the Venerans could Apparate within or from my fortress. I was wrong. We all learned something there. I would have fought them if things hadn't happened so fast. I focused upon Supreme Leader Bison. He made no false moves. Your team responded with incredible swiftness. It is a particularly good thing that they did. I should have consulted before killing Meggido. He is not one who would have been told great secrets. That was obvious. Puk was the Veneran we needed to question. I should have kept him alive. I am sorry I failed to do so. I am on your side. If your people don't feel safe traveling to Venera, I won't push you to go there."

Szilard and Anile arrived with a loud pop. I think Yggdrasil provided the pop, so we weren't surprised by the arrival. It was a welcome safeguard to having our discussion overheard. Anile said that they wished to meet with us.

Odin ordered more substantial fare and we gathered around the table.

"There must be no attacks or bad surprises," Odin warned. "The future of Venera depends upon this. These Terrans are under my protection. You carried out your attack at my fortress, after I declared that the Terrans were under my protection. That is unacceptable. Now, say what you must say, but know that we are all angry and distrustful of you. I have gone too far to be helpful to you. You betrayed my trust."


	61. Chapter 61

**Chapter 61 – Can't We Just Be Friends and Trust Each Other**

"That is an awkward and far less promising start to this discussion than I had hoped for. I guess I was overly optimistic. Yes, it was very wrong to try to kidnap Adrienne and the British Minister for Magic from a diplomatic meeting. Yes, it was a major insult to do so when the diplomats were under a major God's protection inside his own fortress. I know this. Szilard knows this. We are both deeply sorry, but we can't undo what has been done. Szilard acted out of desperation to fulfill the prophecy and to win me. It was not malicious or a plan to start a war, although I understand it seems that way. Szilard and I, we are not the government. We cannot commit the government to anything. You all want remorse and recompense from the government of Venera. We can't give you that. That must come from Supreme Leader Bison. We can talk about and try to improve the situation among all of us. We can try to explain what happened.

"I have explained everything to Szilard. There will be no further attempts to kidnap Adrienne or her child. Szilard now knows that he was manipulated by Battle Leader Puk. Szilard had no intention of kidnapping your Minister. He didn't even expect him to attend the meeting. I'll let Szilard explain."

"Meggido was more my watcher than my ally. We trained and fought together. Initially we were the best of friends, but our friendship became strained. He became far more traditional in his views. He was Puk's man, not mine. I never asked that he be part of our delegation. I was lucky to be a member, let alone the leader. I certainly didn't have the authority to name the other members of the delegation. Puk insisted that Meggido be the fourth member.

"I believed very strongly in the prophecy. I thought myself chosen by the Light Guardian to be the one to find and correctly interpret the original prophecy. I hoped to help my people, but also the other worlds through my study of the prophecy and my attempts to make it real. I'm sure it is not all a forgery. I concede that Puk made some changes of his own. I will study it further. I don't know how much his changes matter. I'm certain the scraps of the original text are genuine. They concur with some of the differences to the accepted version of the prophecy.

"Anile's child, whom I will raise as my own, will take the place of Adrienne's child in the prophecy. It is a huge plus that the child will be half Veneran. I admit that, in my enthusiasm and desire to earn Anile, I forced Adrienne's child to fit the prophecy. He wouldn't fit, without Puk's changes. I was ambitious and desperate and that allowed Puk to make me his fool. Now that Anile will be the new High Priestess, she will pick her own husband. He will be me. The government can't stop that. Her choice is absolute. As soon as she completes the induction ceremony, we will be wed within the hour. The two events together will be a huge ceremony. We want you to be present. It couldn't have happened without your help. Anile says that you fear for your safety and for starting a new war if you attend. We have a fight to be accepted across Venera, but the pyramid is under our control. We guarantee your safety. Supreme Leader Bison will be present. He will be outnumbered. The soldiers would never risk his safety by attacking while he is inside the pyramid. Please say you will attend the ceremony. We understand why Adrienne must stay away. Please tell Adrienne how sorry I am and that I know how wrong I was. I didn't realise how love crazy I was."

"We will pass along your apology to Adrienne. We will talk within the Quest and government about the wisdom of attending the ceremony. Our governments are still technically at war and our Minister and the British Prime Minister expect more than an apology from your government." This was a formal situation and it was McGonagall who delivered our response. "I'm sorry if that disappoints you, but your world has attacked us three times. You were part of the first two attacks. You were the first to attack Adrienne. I have no reason to believe, that if you were physically able rather than a pile of salt, that you would also have been a part of the third attack. That attack was meant to finish what you had started and to capture Adrienne and her son, at a minimum. Probably Battle Leader meant to defeat and enslave us. That is why it cannot be all shake hands, smile, forget, and be friends. Your behavior wasn't simply wrong. It was extremely, dangerously wrong and an overt act of war. Venera must resolve the matter of that war and accept culpability. Your personal interpretation of a prophecy and your frustrated pursuit of Anile do not excuse either the kidnapping of Adrienne or the invasion of our world. You may not have intended to kidnap our Minister, but that was all part of the same action. You are a soldier and a scholar. Even as lovesick as you say you are, you certainly must recognise the seriousness of trying to kidnap the leader of another magical community. What do you suppose Venera would do if we kidnapped your Supreme Leader? We had him in our control. We witnessed his murder of Puk. What would you do if we simply ignored diplomatic norms and refused to release him? I think we both know the answer to that."

"Obviously, there are problems between our worlds that Anile and I can't solve. We'd like to have you at the celebration. It will happen in three days, so decide quickly and let us know. We'll understand if politics or fear keep you away. It's going to be a big lovely celebration."

Cissy earned a look that was both angry and hurt, when she commented "if everything will be limited to fits inside the pyramid, how big a celebration can it be? I've been inside the pyramid. It's smaller than the Hogwarts pyramid. Is that normally where such celebration are held?"

After several moments of silence, Anile replied "No, that's not where High Priestess inductions are normally held. It should take place in the main temple, which is bright, airy, and simply a gorgeous place to cater to over a thousand guests. It's likely not safe for us to conduct the ceremony there. Ishta has had four decades to consolidate her power and install her cronies in almost all the positions of authority within the Sisterhood. Certainly, the main temple must be considered to still be under her control. The Supreme Leader supports me and can assure that a major attack isn't launched against us, but an assassination is certainly possible. Poisonings are not uncommon under circumstances such as this. Maybe the celebration inside the pyramid won't be as large or glorious as I described, but it will be safe, and I would be most happy to include a half dozen or dozen Terrans among the hundred and fifty or so participants. You saved our Black Stone and retrieved my Szilard. I really do want you there. Please let me know at least a day prior to the celebration. I can't afford the spectacle of missing guests. Szilard and I shall return home now."

"So will we, and I'll make sure we get back to you promptly. I'll speak to my husband as soon as I'm back home. I do trust you, but you aren't the government of Venera. A representative of that government tried to kidnap my husband. I don't trust Szilard all that much. He still has ambitions, which involve us, and he hasn't been entirely forthcoming. We're truth tellers, we can pick up such things."

They moved away from us. I heard Szilard say "a moment, I must go back to grab my notes.

I saw a scrap of paper on the table, where Szilard had been sitting. Glancing down, I read 'Odin and the Terrans must be at the wedding.' That was all it said, although 'must' was underlined three times. No reason to go back for that note, other than to keep us from reading it. All became clear as Szilard picked up the paper, telling me in not much more than a whisper: "you all must be at the celebration. It is a perilous time and Anile will be much safer with Odin and visitors from a sister world as guests. That will put some on their best behaviour. If you value Anile's life at all, you will be there. There are soldiers and priestesses who resent us and some of them must be invited. Anything can happen."

"What a smug bastard," Cissy commented and Hermione muttered "so much for 'the pyramid will be safe'.

Obviously, we had a big discussion about all of this as soon as we returned home. It included all the Questers, including those, such as Jaden, who hadn't been active on the last leg, all of Hermione's committee, Percy and Callista, and others from the Ministry, such as Ellie and Shacklebolt. Mum and Dad were also included. Very few thought we should attend the ceremony. Percy was the strongest supporter of attending, declaring "it will ease our relations with the new Veneran government."

"What new government?" Hermione asked as challenge. She was not at all confused about the actual situation on Venera. "Supreme Leader Bison was in charge before, he's in charge now. Szilard has no rank. It is unclear whether Ishta remains as head of the priestesses or whether Anile will gather a larger following."

"Puk is gone. That is obviously what I meant."

I immediately informed Anile that our leaders felt it unsafe for us to attend the ceremony. We were Questers who weren't supposed to insert ourselves in other world's political struggles. Yes, I realise how hypocritical this reads, but we had been sucked into Vanir politics against our desire.

I felt a weight removed from me, with that contentious issue resolved. When Percy suggested what a mistake had been made in turning down the invitation "damned rude and a huge missed opportunity, if you ask me."

I didn't ask you, Percy. I didn't say that aloud. My only response was "if you want to attend as the official Terran representative, Anile and Harry might agree."

Percy took that as an excellent suggestion and departed with a big grin.

A scant ten hours before the ceremony was to begin, we received a flash Yggdrasil message from Odin. **Anile needs our help. She says she is conspired against and that she fears Szilard is part of the conspiracy. She got hints that Supreme Leader Bison expects Szilard to control her, so that the Sisterhood supports them both. Szilard will replace Puk. She partially doubts her own fears, having detected only wisps of Szilard's unguarded thoughts, but she is terrified. She suspects Szilard distrusts her. He never displayed any Occlumency skill in all the time she knew him, but now his mind is locked down tighter than she's every sensed a mind being locked. You must come. Meet me inside Yggdrasil. Bring whom you must. Trust me. I am taking precautions.**

Harry and McGonagall had heard the same message. They felt that we must refuse the request. It was an unfair imposition. It was massively dangerous. I told them I was of divided mind - a sister priestess was in peril. How could I fail to help her? We had a significant, if not necessarily ample, ability to defend ourselves, with Odin's help. Hermione agreed. We told Harry that we felt a duty to protect Anile. We were still on Quest. We would not twist any arms of other Questers to get them to come with us, but we wanted to go.

Harry physically gulped. I could tell he couldn't believe he had heard what I had just said. Our whisper channel was choked with his fear. Actual spoken thoughts weren't needed. That's why I was stunned when Harry finally spoke. "Alright, you're the Mother and Quest leader. I will accept your decision. Barb will come with you. She will bring the other two auror Witches on her special weapon team."

Cissy volunteered to come with us. When I hesitated, she indignantly reminded me "I can truth tell. I can fight using transfiguration or the special curses. You need me."

I wasn't disrespecting Cissy's abilities. She just seemed too young to die and I couldn't deny Harry's impression of the danger was extremely well founded. Catta wanted to join us and said she would bring three other Elves. I could tell how frightened Tendra was, but she also insisted upon coming with us. Aagog and three of her sisters also volunteered. That was the travel team.

Odin seemed surprised to see us. "I never doubted you, but you are later than I expected. We have only six hours to plan. I'm glad you brought Elves. They can travel in invisible mode. I'll also bring some of Asgard's best Elvish fighters."

"No fancy transfigurations today. No time to study the target. Reversing the transfiguration may not be possible if we must transfigure a lot of Venerans. Just make them into rocks. Everyone pick a colour. I'll be making black rocks," Hermione informed us.

I took silver, Cissy took grey, Barb felt comfortable enough about transfiguration to participate. She would be red. Another auror, named Priscilla Jones and whom had been taught by Adrienne, told us without a great amount of certainty "I think I can do this. I'll be blue."

Odin said he would take two wolves and two ravens, didn't know if he would try his hand at transfiguration, preferring a good, Godly, magical whack. "If I do, I'll be green."

Yggdrasil spoke again to the Black Rock of Venera. If there was trouble, was it able and willing to fight to protect its new High Priestess? It was. It would also protect us. It and Yggdrasil stood prepared to whisk us away, as required. This reminded Hermione "I brought belts for all of us. You can trigger them with your mind, probably even if Petrificused or transfigured, or touch the buckle right here, or they automatically activate two hours after the ceremony begins. They take us back to the Yggdrasil library."

We arrived through the Great Black Stone of Venera, a half hour before the ceremony was to start. We waved to Anile, who was busy with her attendants up upon the dais. Szilard was also on the dais but came down as soon as he saw whom Anile had waved at. "I expected Odin, but not the rest of you. You said you weren't coming. There may not be enough food or seats. You should have let us know of the change in plans."

"I'm sorry. It just seemed safer this way - it was Harry's requirement for permitting us to come."

"Your Harry is very scared for a warrior. Too scared to come himself, I see."

"The Wizengamot said he must stay at the Ministry. Deputy Minister McGonagall is with us." She shook his hand. He immediately wiped that hand on his trousers, as he glared at her.

"Very interesting, Anile didn't tell him that we would be here. She must REALLY not trust him," Hermione seemed puzzled. I wasn't.

Szilard's quick visit to us had drawn a lot of attention. Many eyes studied us. I scanned the room. There were more soldiers than I had expected, probably three dozen. Their posture and the way they kept scanning the room, when their eyes weren't fixed upon us, made their job clear. It wasn't unusual that there would be soldiers. Szilard was a soldier and his wedding was to follow immediately after Anile's induction as Head Priestess. Still, it had sounded as though Anile had only expected about a dozen of Szilard's closest friends. Make that 'Szilard's remaining closest friends'. Apparently, several dozen of his friends had died in the attack upon our fortress on the ribbon. I saw Supreme Leader Bison. He only had four guards and looked as nervous as I would expect him to be, seeing the large number of soldiers. Former High Priestess Ishta was on the opposite side of the pyramid from most of the soldiers. She had three priestesses surrounding her for support. Both Bison's and Priestess Ishta's retinues were openly wearing the multi-rodded weapon we had recovered in Norway. Some of our own aurors carried them, just in case.

We communicated through the Black Stone. I was to watch Szilard. Hermione had Bison and his retinue. Priestess Ishta belonged to Cissy, as did her support team. Barb was focusing upon several soldiers, who had positioned themselves too close to the pyramid portal's control panel. Odin and most of the Elves were responsible for the mass of soldiers in the middle of the pyramid. I stopped actively scanning, to draw less attention, but did make the odd furtive glance around the pyramid. The ceremony was about to start.

Anile made an opening speech welcoming all the guests, then took a seat in an ornate wooden chair in the middle of the dais. Priestess Ishta stepped onto the dais and reiterated her intention to resign as High Priestess. She announced her support for Anile as her successor. Supreme Leader Bison also climbed onto the dais. He spoke of the importance and duties of the High Priestess. Apparently, he was going to preside over the induction ceremony. He directed Anile through a series of pledges that she would always follow in the path of the Light Guardian, be loyal to the Veneran people even unto death, would maintain the proper functioning of the Black Stone, share its knowledge with the people, interpret prophecy on their behalf, maintain a proper system of religious education and worship, lead a holy and blameless life, and refrain from interference in governmental politics. She promised to guide the younger priestesses honestly and gently in obedience to the ways of the Light Guardian and the great Black Stone. She would maintain the temples for the worship of the Veneran people, and their guests, whom must always be made welcome in these most holy of places. Anile swore that she would do all of this. She swore on her life, the lives of her future mate and children, and upon her divine soul.

Supreme Leader Bison produced a scroll document, which he, Anile, and Ishta all signed. All the priestess in attendance, there must have been fifty of them, formed a line and stepped up onto the dais to sign the scroll. When this was complete, Supreme Leader Bison then made choppy motions with his right hand, creating three copies of the scroll - so Venerans did practice this form of magic. One copy was given to Anile; one was given to one of the Supreme Leader's attendants, he kept the third himself, placing it within his ornate formal robes. Surprisingly, the final copy was handed to Szilard. Had he advanced that rapidly in the military.

Anile had briefly returned to her chair, during the scroll replication ceremony. She was now asked to stand, and the chair was whisked away. Assuming an air of great importance, Bison intoned in his loudest and deepest voice "I understand that you wish to move directly toward the marriage ceremony, which will join you and Marshall Szilard within the unbreakable bonds of ritual marriage, renewing the alliance between the soldier and priestess guilds. It is my honour to officiate..."

Anile had to magically amplify her voice to make herself heard, but it boomed clearly throughout the pyramid "I think not at this time. Some questions have arisen, which may take some time for Szilard and myself to resolve. I think perhaps we should move right to the food."

Szilard pointed at us, yelling "Seize them and kill all who oppose you." He moved to grab Anile.

I turned him into a rock, before he reached her, then did the same to two soldiers who were rushing toward the dais. More soldiers were approaching my friends, weapons drawn. The wolves were amongst them and Odin was striking them down, as were the Elves. I turned one into rock. Hermione was remarkably poised. With chaos all around her, she kept focused upon Bison, trusting the rest of us to keep her safe. Supreme Leader Bison stood erect; hands spread open. His guard surrounded him but were not participating in the fight. Priestess Ishta also stood stark still.

I saw a half dozen soldiers, who had flanked the left side of the dais and now charged it, weapons pointed. I made a rock, but bright bolts from the Black Stone struck down the others. The pyramid was mostly still. Barb and a couple of Elves had prevented the soldiers from reaching the panel which controlled the entry portal. The Black Stone had then isolated that part of the pyramid. Barb later said the other three soldiers had tried to force their way past the invisible barrier, then given up and dropped their weapons. These three and two other soldiers were taken prisoner. The rest were dead or rocks of various colors. Both of Odin's wolves, their draws drenched in blood, lay dead among the soldiers. Several of the dead soldiers were missing their throats.

I heard Supreme Leader Bison tell his guard "I guess we'll need a new Marshal. You'll do Igo."

I did a quick census to determine if we had any casualties. Priscilla Jones was down. Barb, who had been kneeling beside her, straightened up and shook her head no. One of Aagog's sisters was down, but Aagog was beside her giving a vertical leg wave. Then, I saw that Odin had fallen. I raced to his side, bringing Hermione with me. Odin was alive, but barely able to speak. I heard "Yggdrasil..." and quickly grabbed hold of him and asked Yggdrasil to suck us both back to the library. Hermione performed priestess healing spells, while Yggdrasil flowed its own magical energy into Odin. He was looking a little better.

"I'll care for Odin, you must get back to Venera and lead our forces," Hermione ordered. Of course, I did as she directed.

I returned to a calmed pyramid. Supreme Leader Bison and his guard had taken charge of the prisoners. I heard him telling his guard "I think it best to Apparate directly to the palace and throw these five into the dungeons. Instruct the convoy to leave the carriages and Apparate to the palace. It's far too dangerous to leave the pyramid and travel by ground. The Priestesses will have to remain in the pyramid, until our new Marshall can return with reinforcements and clear the area." He saw me and took a step in my direction. "Thank you for your assistance. Anile surprised me when she cancelled the wedding, but I now see that Szilard was not to be trusted. Far better to learn that now than after he had a chance to consolidate his hold on the soldiers. I trusted the wrong man. Please send word when Percy is ready to resume negotiations. They should progress more smoothly without Szilard." He touched Igo's arm and was gone.

"I must thank you again. I'm sorry I gave you so much trouble about Szilard. We should have left him as salt. I am going to lose this rock in the sea, so that he never returns. He had me fooled for so exceedingly long. He used a love potion on me. That and he was an extremely skilled Occlumens. He was able to keep his real thoughts totally hidden, while pretending to have a super-leaky brain and constantly sending the thoughts he wanted me to read. I didn't even try to snoop. They were always just there, like he was the most sincere, leaky-brained guy on Venera. He let the mask slip. He despised me. Thought me a fool. Saw me as ugly. No love at all. Just his ambition and the promises that Puk made to him. I will be less trusting going forward and more vigilant in detecting love potions as well as poison. I will continue to be a target, until I find a suitable mate. I will then just be a lesser target. I must go. There are a lot of Sisterhood matters to be resolved. I owe you. I will stay in contact. I know your husband fears it, but the road between worlds must be fixed. It benefits you more than us. Can't we just be friends and trust each other. The males are the problem. Two Light Guardian priestesses should be able to be friends, even allies."


	62. Chapter 62

**Chapter 61 – A Farewell To Odin**

I had a long Stone conversation with Harry. Telling him about the induction, the cancelled wedding, and the battle. I told him that we had won

, but that there were losses. I asked if he knew the fallen auror. He did. He had been in auror classes with her and had responded to two serious cases of underage magic with her, when he was Deputy Minister. He had liked her: she was smart, brave, and totally dedicated to the job. He didn't think Anile was her equal and considered saving Anile not worth the price. I know Priscilla would disagree with me on this. She was noticeably big on protecting others.

I told Harry that I was about to leave for Yggdrasil to join Hermione and, to check on Odin, who was seriously injured in the attack. I confessed to Harry that for a brief instant, as I knelt over him, I thought Odin was dead. I then thought he was dying, but he was doing better when I left him. I told Harry that Barb would lead the rest of our team back home. Hermione and I would follow as soon as we could.

Odin was seated in a library chair. He looked a little better, but far from good. He immediately told me the truth: I'm dying. It was one too many magical wounds. At least my mind is fine, and I should have no trouble using what the dark God unwittingly taught me and converting to free spirit, when the time comes. Yggdrasil thinks I have about a year of life left in my current form. Hermione gives me two. There is a lot that I need to teach you in the next year, beyond how to become free spirit, when your mortal time is about to expire. I also need to teach you some more of my tricks here and in seid-space and fully train you up to be my successors. It will also take a little time to help get the old and new Aesir of Asgard comfortable with that succession. I am more convinced than ever that you are the right choices. You and your families are going to need to devote a lot of time to learning and setting yourselves up on Asgard during the next year. I need a day within Yggdrasil to regain strength, then we must go talk to your husbands and your friends. They are a part of the future I am planning for my worlds. I messaged Harry and he agreed to arrange a meeting of the appropriate persons at Hogwarts, beginning with breakfast tomorrow.

"One other thing, which I'm sure you'll be glad to hear. Your Quest is officially over, you've completed more extremely difficult assignments than any Quest in my memory and more than I had any right to lay upon you. In my defense, they were all vitally important and your talents were needed. So many things have come to a head all at once. If a Quest can be won, you have certainly won yours. I will make certain that fact is known to all whom you wish to hear of it. Also, I promised you an easy, enjoyable Quest stop after your success on Hel. I intend to honour that promise. You are all richly deserving of a vacation in Elysium. It is a fitting reward for heroes such as yourselves and those who supported you. Also fitting, as I intend to make a sort of immortality available to you. All of those who participated in any portion of the Quest, along with your significant others and local sponsors are welcome. I leave the invitation list to the two of you."

That sounded nice. It also sounded like something which, perhaps, not everyone who would be meeting with us at Hogwarts tomorrow should be invited to. Was I being selfish and overly crabby? Perhaps. The difference in sunset and sunrise between Earth and Asgard allowed us to see Odin through the night, assuring ourselves that he was returning to health and no longer in need of our attention, and still arrive home in time for dinner with Harry and Ron. This was important. There was much to discuss prior to the Hogwarts meeting. I messaged Harry that we would be home in time for dinner and we would need food and thoughtful discussion.

Dinner was just being placed on the table when we arrived. the lads had prepared a chicken stew and it smelled great. Harry motioned us to our chairs, before admitting "you have us a little worried. You were so urgent that we must meet prior to tomorrow's meeting. What's the problem."?

"There's no particular problem, Harry. In fact, it used to be almost standard to discuss important issues among ourselves, rather than just throw them into the scrum of a large meeting. I miss those days. I think we were closer and more effective then. Hermione and I don't see problems which can't be resolved, but the questions to be addressed are serious and some are very personal. How are we going to live our lives over the next several years, now that our enemies are mainly back in the box and the Quest is virtually over, apart from what sounds like a great vacation. Apart from the personal questions, which may impact our answers to the other questions, there is information that shouldn't get out to as wide a circle as I fear may be in attendance tomorrow. Then there is the larger group that those in attendance will feel compelled to relay the information to."

"You're talking about the nonmagical?"

"Both the magical and nonmagical friends across the pond, the Norwegians, NATO, and Secretary Afshar."

"I understand that you'll need to avoid mentioning some things to that group. Our defence strategy and the transfiguration weapon should be secret. I guess Odin has some things he doesn't want widely known. I agree on that and I suppose it is useful to decide in advance what you won't say. On the rest of it, I'd rather you allowed me to bring McGonagall to this meeting tonight. Arthur kept too many secrets from me as his Deputy. He thought it spared me and allowed me to focus on fighting the Death Eaters. It didn't help. It hindered me and it strained my relationship with Arthur. What are these personal things that she isn't allowed to hear?" He did soften the order with a very gentle snog.

"If you think back, I hope you'll agree that Dad's big problems began when he stopped discussing his concerns with Mum. They had always been a team before. He also thought he was shielding her. It almost destroyed their marriage. I don't want that to happen to us, but we're drifting in that direction."

There was a silence, which Hermione jumped into. "What Ginny is referring to as the most personal issue is that she and I think it is time to begin our families. We thought we should discuss that with our husbands first, not raise it at a giant meeting of outsiders. I hope you agree that colours all the other discussions. There is also the issue of a Quest stop plus vacation in Elysium. Are the two of you interested and how long are you willing to stay? You answer to that question controls the scheduling of other activities and will require McGonagall to be acting Minister for a while. So, you see why just the four of us need to talk."

There was more silence. Harry finally gulped "start our family? Do you think we are ready for that? I've read the entire Bones/Lester story of our lives. This isn't when we're supposed to start a family. We are only a little over three years out from the Battle of Hogwarts. The story clearly says that Albus Severus begins Hogwarts nineteen years after the Battle. We agreed that a two-year spacing between children is best. The story says Lily is two years younger than Albus, so that fits. That means James starts Hogwarts seventeen years after the battle. We have two more years. That must be right. You and Hermione are both excellent at potions."

"No! How can the story possibly know what we will do in the future? There is no way that story is right unless we are stupid enough to treat it as unchangeable prophecy or unless Madam Bones is the greatest seid-master of all time."

"Couldn't be." Ron instantly responded. "Could it?"

"Besides, I won't have any children if they are to be named James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. Notice whose fancy all those names were suited to please. What about Fred. Naming a child after Fred means a lot to me. Dumbledore, Snape, and Sirius really don't mean all that much to me. My relationship with Dumbledore wasn't the same as yours was. I like Luna, but I'd rather use Molly as a middle name. I won't have you naming all our children on your own. To Madam Bones and Fran Lester, apparently, I am totally irrelevant, even as the mother of my own children. This does bear checking in seid-space, but basically, I think they just wrote what they saw as a nice 'Harry ending'.

"I would never insist that I name our children. I know, my father, my mother, my choice of Hogwarts leaders. No, I see Snape's bravery, but I never liked him and won't name one of my sons after him. You know enough magic to make certain my first born isn't a son, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. I was the youngest child and only girl. I'm not planning a repetition of that."

"I agree with you. Nothing they wrote after the Battle of Hogwarts is real. It can't be. Now can we discuss what we need for tomorrow. Can we eat the stew, that Ron and I cooked."? Harry warmed the pot and ladled stew into each of our bowls.

"This does affect that. So, does whether you and Ron will come to Elysium with us. Beyond that, I will not mention Odin's pending death in front of that large a group. You already mentioned our fighting tactics. Rebuilding the ribbon is a possibly necessary, but very touchy topic for discussion. It gives away too much technology. I wouldn't mention British Wizard families settling on Asgard, that would spark jealousy. I still don't fully trust Secretary Afshar or the ICW. How are you coming in recruiting volunteers, by the way? They need to leave very soon. We also need to start building our own Asgard house. It can be a safe retreat for us. Odin plans to give the four of us his Valaskjalf estate, including his forge and observatory... and Yggdrasil. A regular house on our current Asgard land may postpone a conflict with the Aesir over that. Odin and Yggdrasil plan to build a new, bigger, better Yggdrasil. Perhaps on Earth, perhaps on a new world. He also wants us to be responsible for that. Apparently, there are very few Aesir he both trusts and respects. The old Aesir are all feuders, whom he views as degenerately inept. The new Aesir don't quite seem Aesir enough for his taste. It is a highly combustible situation, but not one to be discussed with a large crowd. Much of what we will have to discuss will be difficult to discuss in Odin's presence, although we and a few more do need to discuss it with him."

"You're right. we shouldn't say any more than we need to tomorrow. How can we discuss something we don't understand ourselves? I do insist that we include McGonagall."

"And I insist that we include Viktor and all the Questers from each of the magical peoples."

"Fine," Harry's fine left quite a lot to be desired. He finally added "can't we just enjoy our meal and your homecoming. You realise we are close to fighting over something as stupid as what Fran Lester wrote about our unknowable future It's just fiction. I'm sorry. I put us on this track by suggesting that for some reason we must make the Epilogue to her book come true. Really, I don't believe that. I'm not that daft. I know she can't see the future."

"Still, I am eager to follow Ron's sort-of suggestion and check the relevant section of seid-space. I want Aagog to get a good whiff of Fran Lester and Madam Bones, before she explores that seid-space with us. It sounds absurd, but we still have an unidentified hand which we know interfered in our and the Malfoy's future. It's absolutely unlikely, but we would be remiss not to check it out."

Nobody was more surprised than Ron when Hermione said this. We switched to less weighty and more pleasant discussion. The stew and the rest of the meal were excellent. We all mellowed out over Witch sherry. We recaptured the best of the camaraderie between the four of us. I felt we were a team again. My worries about the upcoming giant meeting were washed away in the warm glow. A little bit of hot make-up sex rounded out what had evolved into a pleasant evening.

"You can change your potion and we can start working on that family tomorrow," Harry told me. I fell asleep with a big smile on my face.

Breakfast was to be at Hogwarts. Harry wore his formal Ministry robes. I chose my white Light Guardian Priestess, Mother of the Future robes. When we joined Hermione and Ron to Apparate to the Hogwarts Great Hall, I saw that their choices matched ours. McGonagall walked up to us, telling us we were all sitting at the head table, along with Viktor and Cho, the Norwegian Prime Minister, and Percy and Callista, This was a short head table, in that many dignitaries weren't seated there, but with heads of so many communities, nations, and peoples, we couldn't possibly fit everyone. Odin arrived with a great bang and joined us at the head table. The logic was those who would make reports and significant others. We enjoyed a most excellent version of the full Hogwarts breakfast. Contrary to normal procedure, the leftovers weren't removed, in case anyone needed more food or drink during the meeting. The Elves did replace all the plates, glasses, cups, and utensils.

Neville gave a short speech welcoming all of us to Hogwarts. Harry gave more extended comments, promising a discussion of 'the events of the past month, involving our problems with the Venerans.' I was then called upon to detail our exploration of the Ribbon Between Worlds, our battles with the Venerans, the rupture of the Ribbon, and the moderate change in the Veneran leadership. Percy spoke, not as briefly as Harry wished, on the state of negotiations, ending with the optimistic conclusion "Supreme Leader Bison explicitly called for a resumption of negotiations, promising that with Szilard gone, things should progress more smoothly. I am prepared to resume negotiations just as soon as a venue is agreed."

Odin gave a quick description of seid-space and then described the Ribbon Between Worlds. He lamented the destruction of this ribbon caused by the brief battle with the Venerans. He said magic would gradually suffer if the ribbon wasn't fixed. There was an unsettled rustling in the seats as he said this. Then he said something which shocked me to attention: "I don't have to reconnect the ribbon between Venera and your world. Your magic should be secure, even better, if I simply build a direct ribbon link between Asgard and Terra. It would not be easy for the Venerans or dark Gods to try to invade you again. They would have to travel past Asgard. That point can be defended." This produced a lot of talk at the tables, including at the head table. It was a new plan, which none of us had considered or known was possible.

The key things Harry said were "we seek peace with all of the other worlds but cannot ignore that Venera has committed three serious acts of war against our world. Their government is evolving, but Supreme Leader Bison remains Supreme Leader. He is incredibly old. We think he initially participated in the planning of a coup against his own government. This made no sense, but I suspect he was being pressed to resign by younger members of the government and that the coup would have left him in power, but with his strongest opposition removed. We will have to watch the continued evolution of the Veneran government most carefully. The Sisterhood seems in good hands; I believe we can work with Anile."

The Norwegian Prime Minister and Viktor discussed what we knew of the Veneran secret base at Trondheim, including the excursions of the Venerans across the skies of Europe and the murder of Norwegian civilians. This fact brought some gasps from those in the audience. The audience also stirred as she repeatedly used the word 'invasion'.

It was now McGonagall's turn. Apart from a one sentence identification of herself and her position, her presentation was limited to the word 'questions?'

Oh, were there ever questions. And audience members debating us and, eventually, each other. Neville's Elves served lunch and then dinner, then a late-night snack. The meeting broke up at 1:30 in the morning. I think Neville erred in including Witch sherry and Scotch Whisky with dinner. Secretary Afshar became increasingly belligerent after dinner, repeatedly demanding that "the ICW should take the lead in almost all of these matters. That is our purpose and our right. The British Wizarding community usurps the rightful position of all the magical people of this world and of their duly constituted governing body. I am just now learning many of the details of the past months events."

Finally, The Bad Dude addressed him in a booming, magically amplified voice "oh, will you just sit down. You know very well that you don't lead the ICW, you serve the delegates and see to details between meetings. You can be fired. You also know that you were included in some of these events."

This did return Secretary Afshar to his seat, but the various disputes blossomed even louder. The meeting ended, because almost everyone was worn out, or too drunk to think properly, or even to stay awake. There were a number of fairly consistent and wide-spread complaints: few wanted the Ribbon Between Worlds to be repaired or replaced, all wanted more frequent consultation, many wanted a representative to the negotiations with the Venerans, many wanted to visit Asgard, the leaders of the other magical peoples didn't want the Quest to formally end - their membership on the Quest team was viewed as a better light into what was happening than committee meetings were, this led to requests for representatives of other human magical communities to be added to Quest, we had to explain in detail why nonmagicals were difficult Quest members. This led to a request for Captain Davies to describe her experiences, which led to the Norwegian Prime Minister disclosing her own minor magical talent. This, in turn, led to a suggestion that perhaps we should search for and identify at least somewhat magical 'Witches' who weren't formally members of their nation's magical communities, which led to shouts of "International Secrecy Statute, do you propose to totally bury it?"

The point that people kept returning to was the need to redefine the membership of Hermione's committee in a way which was both more inclusive, but not so large as to be unwieldy. It needed to meet more frequently, but the meetings needed to be chaired by Hermione or me. Our recent practice of having Cho, or McGonagall, or someone else from the Ministry fill in while we were away was deemed "obviously, not acceptable. We can almost acknowledge a special position for the Mother and her Muse, but not for British Wizardry in general or for the British government. This must be a more equal, cooperative venture."

I was required to answer more than my fair share of questions, as were Odin and Hermione. At midnight, Odin made the side comment that he would be departing as spirit in about a year. That led to the demand to explain more about spirit existence, which led to a Peeves appearance. The attendees were too tired and stressed to be amused. Almost all demanded to know "what happens after Odin leaves? Who runs Asgard? Who sponsors the Quest? Will Odin join with the Light Guardian or become a new, almost dark God?"

Odin promised that he could never become dark. He said Yggdrasil would be, always was, the Quest's sponsor. The attendees took no comfort from Odin's remark that he didn't know what form a future government of Asgard might take. This was a work in progress and a topic for a future meeting. This didn't satisfy the attendees, but fatigue led to agreement to take the matter up at a future meeting. This did lead to the drowsy agreement that the present group, perhaps with future additions, would continue as 'the assembly', while Hermione's committee would be smaller and meet more frequently. I was very tired, when I finally could go home, the meeting's end being almost officially concluded. Neville and his Elves were left with a great mess to clean up. I apologised to him on the way out. Home, bed, collapse, instant sleep.

I was awakened at 6:00 A.M. with a Stone message from Odin.

**I have serious concerns. Please, can we talk?**

My undiplomatic initial response was "Don't you ever sleep? It's 6:00 A.M., I've had four hours sleep, after being literally dead on my feet." I quickly softened this to "I guess you don't need as much sleep. Yes, please come over to the house for breakfast. Can we say 9:30?"

**Thank you, that's fine and sorry I woke you. I thought you knew that if you needed sleep that you can tell all the Stones not to wake you until some late morning hour, unless the contact is described as an emergency from someone you trust to understand what a real, immediate emergency is.**

"Yes. I know that. You are one of the few whose messages I don't restrict. They usually are at least near emergencies. See you for breakfast. I'll message Ron and Hermione. I'll leave a message for her to be delivered at 9:00"

Odin's concern was that the prior night's meeting had been so fractious, that it was so difficult to reach any agreement, that we had so many different leaders, and that they each had almost directly opposed agendas. "It was chaos. I expected difficulty, but this was worse than my worst imagining. Can reach a compromise? Can anyone impose a workable solution? I'm pessimistic."

"Why? You've visited our world many times before. Did you expect world-wide order?' Harry was incredulous. "Yes, this is the tight-rope I must walk almost every day. I have an opposing group in the Wizengamot within our own community, I could lose the next election - I was only voted in as Deputy, and that on the wave of enthusiasm for defeating Voldemort. The ICW and the smaller Wizarding communities basically hate our guts. I get along fine with the Durmstrang and French-centered Wizarding communities. The Bad Dude and I are working together better and better, as are our government and the British government. Things are going smoother than they have in my lifetime. The Elves, Goblins, Centaurs, Unicorns, and Spiders share many policy interests and work together well. I really haven't expected as much cooperation as we've had. The smaller Wizarding communities and the ICW may come around. Basically, I think they're jealous. The Indians are a lot friendlier, now that they have their own circle and magic is stronger. The Patil sisters are helping to start a real school of magic. I suspect your worries deal more with your own government's problems setting a path to follow you, than with our own difficulties."

"Very true, but the two tie together. I want the magical peoples of Terra to play a big role on Asgard after I leave. The more orderly and successful your world is, the more my fellow Aesir will accept your involvement. Your wives helped me to save many Aesir, who would have perished in the great fire. That should give them some sympathy from the new Aesir. It should also give me more sympathy than it has thus far. Many resent my choosing to leave my body and Asgard. All were never ruled by me, never saw me as a God, developed their own customs and myths while they were on their new world for many generations. Many view my rescue of their ancestors as over-blown, made-up myth. It's strange because there were written records from their first day on their new world. I'm also very unpopular with them for bringing back the Spiders. That's the nub of it."

"Didn't you bring any of the Aesir whom we rescued to our own time? Couldn't they speak for the validity of your rescue of the ancestors?"

"I did bring two. One verifies everything I said. The other blames me for siding with the Spiders, saying without my intervention all of the Spiders would have been expelled or killed without any loss of Aesir life or the need to leave their home world"

"Would those who are unhappy prefer to return to their new world?"

"No, they are just ungrateful malcontents, but it is still vital to win them over. I just can't think how I can possibly do that."

"Perhaps you could give one of the leaders a tour of the pertinent portion of seid-space. Let him see the original history, the edits, the correction we made to those harmful edits. Perhaps let him see in real time what we saw, what caused us to act, and the result of that action. Also, we all have memories, which we could download to the pensieve for them to view."

"That might help. I'm out of practice. I haven't had a strong opposition for millennia. I've developed bad habits. I act too unilaterally and then fail to explain my actions and what I hope to accomplish. And then there's Sigrun. She is still a problem. It might help if you organized a large party to visit Valhalla. Sigrun thinks she should be my successor. She is almost as much spirit as I will become. If she can rule, my spirit can just as well remain in the neighborhood and rule. The Aesir won't be ruled by someone who is little more than a ghost. Me or her, although I will be a far smarter ghost. That's why I need your help and that's why yesterday's meeting bothers me so much.

"It seems clear that many of the attendees want nothing to do with what you found beyond your world. It frightens them. There have been too many incursions from the Vanir and Venerans. Also, the Dark Gods. I won't pretend that their fears are stupid; there is much to fear. I think we all did an awfully bad job of telling what is important. I know it's somewhat scary, but we must tell them more about seid-space. If you walk away from that, your history can be totally changed, all your people slain, enslaved, or never existed, while you think you huddle safely, isolated on this world. That is not the road to safety. You must actively defend the parts of seid-space which control what happens here. You can't leave it to the Spiders. You and they are and can remain friends but remove yourselves from seid-space and soon the spiders will rule you. It is just the nature of things. You needn't be always fighting, but you must be present. The other important thing we didn't talk about are the advantages to be gained from the worlds beyond your own. You can exchange knowledge and products. Everyone's life can improve. You are a magical people. Knowledge of a new spell or a different type of magic is very valuable. It will help your people. Too many of them are very poor. It saddens me. It is as if many of you fight against becoming as great as you could be. Tradition is fine, but it seldom leads to improvement. Some of your people will soon live on my world. They will, won't they?"

"Yes, I have a dozen magical families lined up - American and British. Their magical talents were revealed to the American government and now they aren't safe. Too many suspect them for Confunding to work. They can leave in a week."

Harry's report cheered Odin a bit and put him in planning mode. "There is much to be done in that week. We must educate them about Asgard. They must visit their new home, so that they know what to bring with them. It would be a huge advantage if you made them one with your Stone. They could learn their new language and they could always communicate with you through the Stones. I must arrange for building supplies and temporary tents. I guess they could live in the pyramid or your warehouse, while they build. If they are American, they've never seen a Unicorn. You have the new Unicorn herd on your property. They must meet Unicorns. They must become comfortable with the Acromantula. They certainly must meet me. I have much to say to them.

"I will leave you in a moment. You have much to do. I said it at the meeting, but I don't think it was believed or understood. If Terra isn't attached to Yggdrasil by the Ribbon Between Worlds, your Black Stone will suffer, and the strength of your magic will decline. You could all become nonmagical. Not right away, maybe not for a hundred of your years, but it will happen. I will explain my construction plan to you when you come to Asgard. You must come in a week. I have done nothing to rebuild the Ribbon, but the preliminary construction of the necessary new Black Stone has started. Yggdrasil grows it. I must return to help it. Think on all I have said."

He was gone. I checked in on the Black Stone messages, which I knew awaited me. Cissy needed to talk to us about the twins. Fran Nester desperately needed to speak to us. McGonagall was at the Ministry with the Bad Dude. They wanted to meet with the four of us. Harry, who had also been listening to the messages, decided for me: Ministry now, lunch at Cissy's castle, dinner with McGonagall. It worked for me. We linked hands and were in Harry's conference room.

"I have to get back to the States and wanted to talk to you about Hermione's committee, and about my nonmagical government. We haven't spoken to the nonmagicals yet. I'm still debating that. You said you had the perfect hiding spot for them to begin a new life on Asgard. I fear it is time to get on with that. The authorities are closing in. We've hidden them, but I don't know how long we can keep them hidden. I need you to send an auror to Apparate them back here and remove them to Asgard. That will make all of us safer. I can return to America with your auror and take him to the families. I'd like to come back later and see them settled on Asgard."

"Of course. We can do that right after this meeting. You also wanted to discuss Hermione's committee."

"Yes, I want to be on it. I think you should add the Norwegian Prime Minister. I think she bluffed about NATO and my government wanting in. I think it's just her, but better to have her inside the tent pissing out, that outside pissing in, if you know what I mean? If my nonmagical government new of any of this, apart from the rumours of magic they've been chasing, it would be apparent. They certainly wouldn't tell the Norwegian Prime Minister. That's not their style. I think we keep them in the dark for now, while I work to better prepare my community, either to hide deeper or to step into the light. That's about it. I also wanted to tell you that I think it a bad idea to include Secretary Afshar. He's far too close to Mr. Tsieh, who is far too close to the Chinese government. That could cause big trouble when my government learns how organised the magical communities are. I'm convinced that they believe they are pursuing rogue covens."

Barb left with the Bad Dude. McGonagall asked to join us for the meeting with Cissy. Harry assented. McGonagall wanted to discuss membership on Hermione's committee.

"Certainly Hermione should head her committee, and Ginny, I think I should represent the Ministry - you can after-the-fact over-rule me and I was a Quester, Cho represents Durmstrang, Madame Delacour represents the Beauxbatons group, King Gobbledygook, Cotto, Aagog, Firenze, The Bad Dude - that's getting large enough, perhaps one other, to make a dozen."

"The committee has to include Tony."

"I think it would help to have a representative from one of the Asian countries. Mr. Subramanian has been quite easy to work with, and he oversees a truly magnificent circle - and has kept it well hidden," I explained. "It's likely him or Secretary Afshar."

"Please, Mr. Subramanian," Hermione instantly replied. "I think we need a separate Quest committee, to meet prior to meetings of my committee, to hash out all that the Quest team knows and decide what to report and how to report it to my committee. If Ginny and I are away, someone else from this Quest committee will fill in at the intergovernmental committee meeting. As you'll recall, it no longer is a Ministry committee, meaning an official Ministry representative certainly is required and can't be Ginny or me."

"Cho could fill that role," McGonagall offered.

"Ginny will almost always be in the role of official witness and explainer, plus she is Harry's wife, it is probably best she is not a voting member of my committee," Hermione continued. "Naturally, she will head the Quest team committee."

"Who does that leave us with? I have Hermione, myself as Ministry representative, Cho, Madam Delacour, Tony, King Gobbledygook, Cotto, Aagog, Firenze, the Bad Dude, Unstaad, the Norwegian Prime Minister - I forgot her before, and Mr. Subramanian. Not that I'm superstitious, but some won't think a thirteen-member steering committee for major off-world policy matters is very auspicious."

"Remove Madam Delacour," Harry demanded. "The French have barely been involved in either the Quest or relations with the other worlds or with non-European Wizarding communities. That makes Hermione the official member representative of the Quest team. If she isn't available, I think that Cissy should fill in."

McGonagall looked stunned. "But... she's so young. Do you really want a Hogwarts..."? She recognised that Harry wanted exactly that.

Ron and Harry had other Ministry business, which couldn't wait, so Hermione and I went off to lunch with Cissy without them. As we settled down to eat, Hermione explained her roles on the two committees. Cissy was very clearly pleased. "Thank you. It's good to be appreciated. We haven't discussed the twins in awhile and I thought it time we did. They have both learned magic very well. So many have helped them that they are two years ahead in many subjects. They are still a little socially inept. Little things, well I guess the Lesters aren't really a little thing, tend to throw them. Fran contacted me, asking if I could bring the twins to her estate. Steven was lonely - Angela was too much older to be much fun. We visited the Lester estate last week. It started well. Henry and Steven enjoyed each other's company and played nicely, then they somehow got into a spat over which of them could produce the strongest curse. They agreed to do a 'Back'. Both Steven and Henry reverted to a wild magic breakdown. Two of the Lester's trees were felled. They were really big trees. Hard to explain how they fell, so you'll need to arrange for some aurors to deal with them. Fortunately, no injuries. If Margaret weren't with me and if Angela and Alice hadn't helped us subdue and calm down Henry and Steven, well, the house may have been the next thing to be knocked down. It was frightening. Fran just said something like 'we don't play that roughly, Steven,' but both had just suddenly turned feral. It was scary, not play at all. I thought you should know. Fran agrees that there won't be any more get-togethers this summer and that she will practice spells safely with Steven. She admits that the two of them have slacked off practice since Hogwarts' year ended."

I didn't know what to say. "Thank you for handling the situation so well," seemed totally inadequate, but that's exactly what I said. I then appended "I really will think about it. I'll probably mull it over with Harry and Neville."

"I'd rather speak to Neville myself and I think it best not to say too much to Harry. He may feel that the Ministry must respond, and I think that would be bad and make the situation much worse."

"Okay."

Harry and Ron were joining us for dinner at the Lesters, so I felt I had to at least gently mention the incident Cissy had told us about. It was very possible that Fran invited us to present her own interpretation of that event. I was surprised when Harry didn't seem greatly upset "it's normal for young boys to engage in rivalries and little fights, when they are friends playing together. It's just that most young boys don't have anywhere close to the magical power, which these two have. It's good that the damage was confined to the Lester estate and that no nonmagicals were aware of it. I'll have the trees removed, I think not by aurors. I think Cissy's plan to handle it is exactly right."

"Yeah, you don't want to involve aurors or St. Mungo's," Ron concurred.

All good. We were ready to go to dinner, except I had to explain why Aagog was coming with us. I was surprised that, even after half a day of reflection, Harry still thought this a good idea. I explained that I had let Fran know in advance, letting her know that raw minced would be fine for Aagog. Perhaps half a pound? I had explained Aagog's inclusion by telling her that the spiders had a bigger role to play going forward and I thought it important for her family to become more familiar and comfortable with them.

Someone had told Fran how much I love spicy crab cakes, as they were one of the entrees included in her dinner. It was a humongous amount of food, with plenty of Witch sherry to complement it. Somebody must have told her that I tend to consume an immodestly huge amount of food. Ron ate more than I did. The conversation remained light throughout dinner, despite some staring at Aagog. As Fran brought a selection of creme brûlée, chocolate mousse, and tiramisu for dessert, she directed the discussion to a subject I hadn't expected. The children had already been instructed to grab a dessert and depart to their rooms, so I felt certain the topic was to be the wild magic duel between Henry and Steven. It wasn't. The Lester family hoped to somehow be able to live together at Hogwarts. Mr. Lester had practiced magic using all three of the family wands. He could do a little magic. He demonstrated with his wine glass. He managed to Leviosum it just enough to spill the full glass on the white tablecloth. Fran gasped a little but said nothing.

Hermione commented "that would actually be quite good for a first year, even for a graduating first year. I don't..."

Harry's look silenced her. "Mr. Granger mentioned that he had spoken to you. He was sort of a special case. He was the first and only husband of an over-aged beginning student admitted. We've had so many over-aged students since then. Most have not spent long at Hogwarts. Hermione's parents were an exception and Hermione was a year beyond a normal seventh year - clearly an adult. In general, the parents of Hogwarts student didn't ever come to Hogwarts after their own graduation, although we are relaxing that. I'm not sure how far we should relax the rule. I fear having both you and your wife at Hogwarts will interfere with Steven's socialization with the other children, and with Steven's strong, incredibly early wild magic, I don't want to interfere with his socialization. He started Hogwarts young and Fran was newly discovered magical, so they both were allowed in together, thinking, in part, that he was too young to be separated from his mother.

"Mr. Granger was also a special case in that his range of interests and skills, coupled with our own need to better understand nonmagical technology, made him a perfect British Society Studies professor. To be honest, we used to call it Muggle Studies, but after Voldemort that seemed extremely offensive. What special skills do you have."?

"I'm a doctor. Fran has talked about all the health-related potions she's learned to make. I have a burning desire to experiment with them. After practicing for many years, medical research appeals to me. I want to study magical healing. I promise that I wouldn't get in Steven's way. He doesn't stay in Fran's apartment anymore. I promise not to seek him out. The students don't seem to have figured out that Fran is Angela's and Steven's mother. I'll be extremely circumspect. Watch at a great distance. In addition to being able to do research and help with health issues in the clinic on the grounds, I feel a need to just get an emotional feel for Hogwarts. Not understanding is building a wall between me and my family, as is the separation. That isn't pleasant and I don't feel it is fair."

"Okay, I'll speak with Neville and Doctor Wright. I won't order them to say yes. In fact, I can't do that. I will tell them that this might be particularly important in learning how to better integrate our community into the larger British society. I'll ask them if they can do it on a trial basis."

"Thank you. That's all I ask."

Three days later, Harry received the necessary approvals.

Three days after that, Hermione and I were off to Asgard to begin what I thought of as the Odin farewell tour of his worlds. Harry had commanded us as we left "please, find out all you can about the new Yggdrasil and building a Ribbon to Earth."


	63. Chapter 63

**Chapter 63 – What Would You Like Me To Show You?**

"I wanted a few days with just the two of you, before we start adding more of the Quest team. I liked your idea of viewing stored memories. That's a trick of yours, which I'm not aware of. I don't know how you can tell that the stored memories are real. For them to be a sort of testimony of what happened in the past, there needs to be a way to show that they aren't fake or haven't been romanticised to make yourself or others look better or worse. Do you know for a fact that your technology produces only true memories?"

I saw the problem at once and honestly had to admit "Although I've not manipulated my memories, I know that Professor Slughorn did exactly that, such that Headmaster Dumbledore showed my husband a false memory account of Slughorn's critical discussion with young Voldemort on the topic of Horcruxes. All I can tell you is that when Harry watched this doctored memory in the pensieve, he felt that it wasn't right somehow, and then Dumbledore told him that Slughorn had altered it. I also know that Slughorn deliberately altered the memory, which he gave to Dumbledore to save, while knowingly keeping the accurate memory. I know that because he later extracted the accurate memory for Harry. I can message Harry later and ask him how he knew the memory was false. I guess however Harry knew, somebody else could do a better job of altering a memory, so that the change wasn't so easily detected. I see that this makes our stored memories less than the solid evidence you seek to convince the new Aesir of Asgard."

"Yes, that is exactly the problem I feared existed. The newly arrived Aesir are good at technology and magic. If student Harry spotted the possibility of a fake, the new Aesir surely will. Stored memories could still be convincing if detection of a fake were near certain. I'll think upon that."

"I have a possible solution," Hermione suggested. "A stored memory viewed in the pensieve is really just a vivid, illustrated form of personal testimony, retelling one's memory of the facts in question. In the case where the person whose memory is being used as testimony is alive and present, then that person can be asked directly whether the memory is true. If those who were shown the memory have access to reliable truth-tellers or potions which prevent lying, then the memory is 'known' to be true, to the same extent that the testimony of a live witness under questioning is known to be true. I can think of possible ways around it: Confunding being the most significant. Here, I think the protection is that I doubt a person could be Confunded to create as vivid a visual memory as the viewing of a stored memory in the pensieve. I've not experimented but suspect that it would be hard to detect if that Confunding simply slightly altered one small thing, rather than creating most of the tale."

"So not much more help. Was Slughorn an incredibly talented Wizard. As a professor, I'm sure he had specialised skills, but did they range into this area?"

"He was an expert at human transfiguration. If he could transfigure himself into an armchair and back to human, without harm, then I think he could alter a memory. He'd certainly be as good as anybody at that. Anybody from our community, at least."

"But Harry was just a student. Perhaps he didn't feel he needn't his best effort to fool a student."

"He was intending to fool Dumbledore. Dumbledore was the most talented Wizard of the past century, at least. I think superior to Voldemort."

"That does help. If a child can discover the master's fake, then surely the returning Aesir will see that they could detect any forgery. Good! We will need more proof to convince the new Aesir, but particularly good. We will have to extract our memories and see if they make as strong a case as we believe they do. We must ask some of your Questers who weren't present for the events and test the persuasiveness of the memories on them. Now, we should visit Yggdrasil and have a look at its emerging hatchling."

We Apparated to the shore of Lake Yggdrasil. A huge, black monolith was beginning to grow out of Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil was surrounded, including into the water, by a large pile of what looked like fine black sand. The new Yggdrasil was attached to the old. It was skinny at the top and widening where it entered the water to twice the width and depth of Yggdrasil. The upper levels were perceptibly filling in as we watched. The difference was real over the course of our hour-long visit. I reached for Yggdrasil, asking it how long this process would take and whether it tired or hurt it.

**I am fine. I have done this before, although not on nearly so grand a scale. My improved new Yggdrasil stretches to the floor of the lake. After the top is finished, I will continue to build the better me all the way down to my base - shorter if that is what the new site requires. You must find a site on your world. I don't dare plant the better me too close to your world's hot core. That would destroy the Stone and possibly your world, through the mother of all volcanoes. How long? That depends upon how deep. I must finish before Odin departs. I should barely meet that date. This process does consume most of my attention, but I can still help Odin and you and monitor the other Black Stones. The new Stone will start life with the transfer of everything I know, so it will begin fully aware of who you are and of our history. It will know of all the service your Quest has provided to me and the other Stones. You are to command me after Odin departs. I will try to remain hidden here. If I must move, then you must help me. I could share your world, for a time, with the improved Yggdrasil I am building. It would be best if we agreed a different world for me to move to. I will present you with options at the appropriate time.**

"Now you know part of what lies ahead and hopefully have a better understanding. We will have to meet with some of the newly arrived Aesir, but I must think more on that and we will talk further. For now, what would you like me to show you?"

"We think we must explore seid-space. We must explore the edits in our time and world, also at the time of your great fire. We want Aagog to do some sniffing around. she has a few personal aromas to compare the unknown weavers to."

"Of course! That explains why Aagog joins us. I assume you wish to begin at the start of your Hogwarts days. We've been there, so I can Apparate us back to that very spot."

We started at the spot where Hermione had seen the 'shadow' interact with Lucius Malfoy, had taken his hidden Riddle diary to Diagon Alley and place it in my school cauldron. Odin squinted at the shadow with us. We used a magnifier. "It's definitely something. No face, though." Odin agreed, suggesting "let's move a little farther back in time to where you think the shadow must again have interacted with Lucius to cause him to return to the house and take the diary with him.."

We did that. This time we spotted a shadowy figure, whom we had missed last time we viewed these pictures. The figure was cloaked, but the cloak didn't cover the face and the head was tilted at just the right angle so see... that there was no face. "It's a dark God, or rather a dark demi-God," Odin confidently informed us. It was on your world at least nine years ago.

We cut a cord in the weave and allowed Aagog to get a good sniff at the weaving. It took just two good whiffs for Aagog to confidently declare "Madam Bones weave this patch."

We scurried over to the patch, which brought Gilderoy Lockhart to Diagon Alley. We cut a knot. "Same, it is Madam Bones Aagog is definite."

"So, Madam Bones..." I began, before Hermione interrupted - out of excitement, rather than rudeness.

"Isn't really Madam Bones. Voldemort and his Death Eaters really did kill her, just as everyone thought, until she magically reappeared. She's been with us too long to have been using Polyjuice Potion all this time. Barty did it for a whole term, but he was already insane, and insanity is a major symptom of overuse. We seek a Metamorphmagus, perhaps one not of our community or even of our world."

I shouldn't have been but was stunned by this suggestion. It was a seemingly wild interpretation which somehow seemed very right. As per normal, Hermione was a step ahead. I did contribute "we have to step off the Ribbon back in a time, when we know the real Madam Bones was active and allow Aagog to get a good sniff of her. That would prove your theory. We are planning on following Harry. We need to go to his trumped-up prosecution before the Wizengamot and follow Madam Bones from there. We also must tell Harry to track our version of Madam Bones."

"I agree. We go back in time a bit farther, with Harry, then we must return home to talk to Ron and Harry and to grab the two Peverell invisibility cloaks."

Odin was surprised by this turn of events but agreed the plan. "What do you want to check, before you go home?"

"We need to go forward in time to the opening banquet and then follow Dumbledore back through time," Hermione suggested. "We need to check his initial interactions with Harry. I want to know why Harry was placed with his aunt and why Dumbledore acted to make his British school days so difficult."

We followed Dumbledore all the way back to Trew's revelation of the prophecy, which had driven Harry's life. We saw Snape slinking away and knew exactly what that meant. Hermione excitedly gave me a light elbow in the flank, exclaiming "I think we must follow Snape. I have a hunch. Wait, look closer. See that cloaked figure pointing a finger at Snape from that table in the shadows."

Of course, she was right.

We followed Snape. He snuck into Dumbledore's office. How did he get past the gargoyle? He unrolled and studied a scroll, taking a very quick look at some names, then unrolled it farther and checked more names. "He's found that the prophecy refers to Harry or Neville." I announced.

"But... he only checked two years of births. Really one, he just looked at the current year entries to find his position on the scroll. He just wanted to confirm Harry's birth date. To know that, wouldn't he have had to be keeping tabs on the Potters. Given the Voldemort war, I doubt that information would have been widely spread about. He didn't consider any other possibilities, for the right boy. It's possible the boy in question was already at Hogwarts, or at least older than Harry and Neville. I'd say sloppy work, but he found what he wanted and now he's going to run to Voldemort with it. What a filthy Bastard Snape was. He sees a chance to turn Harry's mum into a grieving widow, without a child - ripe for Snape to help and comfort her."

"Yuck!" I didn't need to say more to register my disgust.

Hermione had seen enough and said it was time to return hope, make our report, plan, and grab the invisibility cloaks.

"Let's just go back and follow Dumbledore. I want to see what he does, then we can return home."

That's what we did. We followed Dumbledore back to his office. He sent a Patronus from the office. McGonagall quickly arrived. Dumbledore told her of the prophecy. "Someone accessed the scroll of births. That person didn't go back farther than last year. He'll focus on the Potter and Longbottom children. They must be protected. We may be able to focus Voldemort's interest in one or the other. Hmm... I think that the Potters are better equipped to protect their son."

"When you recited the prophecy to me, I heard nothing which referred to a male. Were there no little Witches born at the appropriate time, in any year, who met the other conditions?"

"I don't know. I'll check later. My question is whether you think it wise to tip the balance to the Potter child, at least in Voldemort's mind. It would be a simple thing to do through Severus."

"That is not a decision I'm comfortable making or encouraging you to make. It will profoundly affect the young Wizard's life, whichever one you choose. At least check for other possible candidates first. That's what I recommend." She turned on her heel and left the office. Dumbledore gave his head a slow shake.

We, along with Odin and Aagog, made a Stone journey back to Hogwarts and contacted Harry. I told him we must speak at once. No, it had to be in person. Sorry I caught him at a busy time, but what we had to say to him was extremely important. I could tell that I seriously surprised him, when I added "please bring Ron, Shacklebolt, McGonagall, and Mrs. Longbottom. Our house, I think."

Hermione and I told our tale. Harry was at first incredulous, but then thought a moment and decided that it made sense. "It should have raised more red flags that she escaped death at the hands of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Her behaviour also hasn't matched how McGonagall describes her old friend. I think I believe you, but we must explore this a bit more.

I didn't object. I had expected to be questioned closely. I wasn't questioned at all. Every question was directed at Aagog. Aagog convinced everyone that Madam Bones had been up to mischief in seid-space. Mischief which affected Harry's life and ours. Hermione then described our plan to go back to Harry's trial before the Wizengamot, a point we had found in seid-space, and to give Aagog a chance to smell her and determine if she were the same Madam Bones whom we knew today.

"Way too dangerous," Shacklebolt seemed genuinely alarmed. "Ministry security is as good as Hogwarts, in many ways better. We have aurors all over the place. So did the prior administrations. You can't accost Madam Bones inside the Ministry. You certainly can't take Aagog into the Ministry. Can you imagine the commotion if she were found there, let alone if you and she were linked? There is a better way. Madam Bones takes a half-hour walk and sit in the park across from her townhouse. She does this exactly a half hour after she returns from the Ministry, and that is always within a few minutes of 6:00 P.M. That's the big reason I'm less than convinced that the current Madam Bones is different from the original. That habit hasn't changed at all. The only difference is that she and Adrienne go into the park now or did before you moved them to Hogwarts. Back then, she was always accompanied by a junior Witch auror, who Apparated home with her, checked the townhouse, went to the park with her, walked her back into the townhouse, which she gave a final check, before securing it for the night and returning to the Ministry. Barb knew her: Angela Merton, born in Germany of a mixed British and German magical couple. The whole family was killed by Death Eaters. Take Barb with you, she'll deal with Angela. The four of you deal with the Madam Bones of your student days. Ron and I will keep a watch on the current Madam Bones. Let us know as soon as you've checked out your Madam Bones. If a substitution was made, we'll pick up our Madam Bones."

That plan worked for all of us. It worked very well in practice, as well. We reached the proper date by traveling in seid-space. "Petrificus Totalis" from beneath the cloaks dropped Angela and Madam Bones. Aagog scampered over to Madam Bones, walked across her and returned with the oxymoron: Madam Bones isn't Madam Bones."

The phoney Madam Bones of our age was captured by Shacklebolt and a team of aurors. Shacklebolt fired a "Petrificus" as soon as he saw her, but it didn't drop her. Three aurors did a special weapon "Petrificus" and she fell to the floor just outside the Hogwarts Great Hall. It was quick, no commotion, and all were gone, before anybody could object. Well, a little commotion: the phoney Madam Bones had pointed a finger, which Shacklebolt had ducked, and a large window was blown out. Fortunately, Neville had been alerted in advance of the arrest and had a promise for any damage to be covered by the Ministry. The phoney Madam Bones was hustled off to one of the Gringotts vault jail cells. We were back at the Ministry in time for Shacklebolt's briefing.

McGonagall started to complain about unjust treatment of her friend but ended up saying "... of course she was an imposter. That explains a lot. Even putting it down to trauma from her kidnapping by the Death Eaters, her behaviour was inexplicable. So, my friend has been dead since the time I originally thought she was, the last recognised casualty of the Voldemort wars. We must have a ceremony. Who is the imposter, I wonder."?

"The pointed finger curse is the hallmark of an Aesir minor God, or I guess a talented normally magical Aesir. The imposter had to be Aesir, Vanir, or dark God, the Venerans don't seem to possess enough transfiguration skill to even attempt human transfiguration."


	64. Chapter 64

**Chapter 64 – We've Been Watched For A Long Time**

Odin led the interview of the fake Madam Bones. Hermione, Cissy, and I served as truth-tellers. Barb and Shacklebolt were security. Of course, we used spiked Veritaserum – we were dealing with a spy from another world, one who had burrowed into the highest levels of our government and of the Sisterhood. As a Legilimens, Odin was able to combine questioning with actively probing the prisoner's mind. Legilimency is difficult, even for a major God. The job was made easier by forcefully asking a question, causing the answer to appear at the surface of the prisoner's thoughts. Odin could simply pluck the answer, rather that fruitlessly rooting through the prisoner's mind, opposed by what Odin described as the prisoner's "non inconsiderable skill at Occlumency."

This got us through the easy stuff rather quickly. The prisoner was Vanir. He – yes, the prisoner was a he, was Vanir. He was a member of the royal family. He also was a priest of the ancient temple in Village Vana. His name was Dik. He was on Frijjo's list of royals, ranked thirty-first in the line of succession if the royals ever took over Vanaheimer. With all the deaths, he had moved up the list to number eleven.

It took Odin a lot more work to learn when, why, and how he had come to our world. After an hour of not much success, Hermione forced some more adulterated Polyjuice down his throat. Far too fast for the potion to have any effect, Odin declared success. I guess Hermione's somewhat violent intervention had broken his concentration and left his mind more vulnerable to attack. It may even have caused the guy to actively think of that which he wished to protect. In any case, Odin proudly reported: "he has been on Terra for a decade, initially as a Slytherin student at Hogwarts, then as Madam Bones, being the one to magically reappear from the dead. He had come to our world to determine whether it was in the royals' interest to help Voldemort take and cling to power. He had fought in the Battle of Hogwarts. He thought he had killed but he didn't know how many or whom he had killed. He had travelled to Earth on the Ribbon Between Worlds. Freyr had taught him how to do that. It was his intention to travel the ribbon to report back to Freyr.

This hadn't worked. He hadn't understood the Ribbon well enough to realise how difficult it is to remount the Ribbon, a year after dismounting. He had made three reports by Raven, the last report being sent only a month ago.

The wall having been pierced by Hermione; Odin was able to scoop up information with ease. I asked him why he and Fran had chosen the names they had for my children.

"Didn't choose them, found them in seid-space. I didn't put them there. Don't know who did. The branch seemed original."

I made a note to find and explore that branch.

Another hour was spent determining whether he had committed any actual sabotage against our community. He had thought side-lining Shacklebolt would be a plus. He never fully trusted Voldemort, but thought Lucius would have been a great Minister, one with whom the Vanir royals almost certainly could have done business to mutual benefit. Minister Weasley hadn't been as bad as he expected, and Lucius's main effort was taking back his son. He had given up on our politics as too difficult to comprehend. He didn't want to be blamed for a move, which turned out to be a mistake from the viewpoint of the Vanir royals. His orders were to spy, not to act. Independent thinking was frowned upon and had better be successful, or there would be consequences. We got nothing of further use from him.

Hermione and I questioned him about the Village Vana, while Odin probed his mind. This wasn't going well. Hermione gave him another shot of spiked Veritaserum. At first, we just got a little dropped barrier information through Odin's probing. Then the potions finally took effect and our prisoner began to talk. He had been the number two priest at the Village Vana temple. There were three priests and fifteen priestesses. The priestesses had more diverse magic and a better rapport with the temple's Black Stone, but the priests were in charge on the non-technical, political side. Since they were barred from the main Black Stone inside the pyramid, they had acquired their own, much smaller black stone. Long ago, their order had seized control of the main Black Stone. Just in case, and to find out how the process worked, they had forced the official Black Stone to make a duplicate of itself. Their Stone had only grown to a little over three feet square by twenty feet tall, when they feared they were about to lose control of the pyramid. They moved the new mini-Stone to Vilage Vana, or rather they ordered the major Black Stone to do this, burying the Stone so that only the top eight inches protruded from the ground. The new Stone wasn't deep enough to generate much power, but it did slowly, oh so very slowly, extend itself deeper into the planet. After, he gave an approximate time measurement corresponding to thirty-one hundred of our years, the Stone was working properly. It soon failed to grow any deeper. They worked with what they had. It was a genuine Black Stone, just not the equal of its much larger mother. Unlike its mother, it had not been artificially impeded by Odin and Yggdrasil and tampering by his own Order.

I questioned the prisoner closely about the proper method to grow a new Black Stone from an existing one. He was still speaking and disclaimed any knowledge of how the process had been carried out. "Of course, the main Black Stone should know, although apparently our Order had put it very much under their control so if they didn't want it to remember, perhaps it still cannot remember. Of course, we had a written procedure, which legend says was modified by trial-and-error. That document was among the three most important and venerated objects in the Order's library. There was a fire long ago. All our most precious were lost. I cannot help you. I don't know the answer to what you seek. Ask Odin! It is well known that Yggdrasil can make a new Black Stone and Odin controls Yggdrasil."

"No human can control Yggdrasil. Certainly not I. We are friends for as long as Yggdrasil chooses to accept me as friend. Ginny asked you the question, because the daughter Black Stones made by Yggdrasil lack the power of Yggdrasil itself. What is easy work for Yggdrasil is beyond the capability of its daughters. The Black Stone on Ginny's world has never made a copy of itself. Not even a mini copy. Now do you understand the importance of what your ancestors accomplished?"

He did, but he still couldn't help us. He could provide more detail of the powers hidden within the Village Vana temple.

In addition to the Black Stone, the temple had access to seid-space. This depended upon the mini Black Stone. Our prisoner was the only one of the priests with feasible aspirations to be a seid-master, though he lacked the skills of the best of the priestesses. Yes, he had done some weaving in seid-space. Yes, some of his efforts had been aimed at impacting our world. He mainly followed orders, doing things the lead priest didn't want the priestesses to know about. He was young to be a priest at that temple, but his royal lineage, coupled with his limited seid ability earned him the position. He had been encouraged to come to our world. None of the other priests or priestesses even approached his ability at human transfiguration. That was his forte. He was almost glad he had been caught. He didn't know how to return to his world. He feared another held his position in the temple. He had special friends among the priestesses. He missed them. Spying had originally seemed exciting and a way to further prove and advance himself. He was too far down the royal line of succession to progress by the normal route of succession. That is why he had trained for the priesthood and emphasized his magical ability, rather than being groomed to rule.

He would have to be a power in the priesthood and behind the scenes manipulator of the monarch. He was tired, both of being a spy and of being an old Witch. Madam Bones' fall from grace had all but eliminated his ability to spy. He was an unbelievably bad spy, he confessed, having seen Madam Bones when he was a student, realised what a key position she held, but not realising that she was supposed to be dead at the time he assumed her form. He thought that made some always suspicious of him. He had been forced to voice an explanation for his reappearance right on the spot, fortunately to a none-to-bright minor functionary, but it was a poor start to the second half of his mission. He just wanted rid of the woman

"I have some bad news for you," Hermione gloated as she fixed her wand upon him. "There! You won't be able to change out of this form, until I reverse that spell, which I won't do until it's time to send you home. That likely won't be for several weeks. Percy must negotiate with the factions on Venera. We also need to cleanse your mind of the pearls you picked up from spying on us."

The next question was what to do with him. Harry and Odin would have to answer that. I made a full report to Harry. He said he would talk with Odin. Harry soon messaged me that the three of us plus Odin should come to his conference room. McGonagall, Percy, Ellie, Mrs. Longbottom, Ellie, and Tony were with Harry. We recited all that we had learned from the prisoner, Dik.

"This gives me both an avenue for re-opening the peace talk negotiations with the Vanir, while knocking the royals and Village Vana, in general, off their game and onto the defence. That was a highly provocative action by the priests, and I will demand an apology."

"An apology will certainly make me feel so much safer," Tony instantly derided this. "Everyone keeps taking hostile shots at us and your proposed solution is to seek an apology."

"It's a start," Harry defended Percy. "Percy says the royals seem unable to ever give a whole-hearted apology for anything. It apparently is beneath them."

This encouraged Percy to forge ahead. "I can take Dik to the negotiations and present him as proof that the royals have infiltrated our government. He can be required to explain his actions to all of the Vanir factions."

"No! He will be obliviated before he can return home. End of discussion!" Shacklebolt was adamant, treating the prospect as a major breach of security.

"The Vanir won't believe he actually spied on us, if they don't hear his testimony." Percy objected.

"Of course, they know he spied on us. They sent him here to spy on us!" Shacklebolt was shouting. "He either is obliviated, or he remains a prisoner. I think he is far too dangerous to send back to the Vanir or to allow the Vanir to speak to. He sat in on just about every important meeting of our administration, up to the point Harry sacked him. That is a lot of secrets. What he didn't gain from the Ministry, I'm sure he learned through Deputy Minister McGonagall and her Sisterhood."

"She was privy to far more than she should have been, but both the Sisterhood and the government shut her out recently. Her last report was sent off by raven in the past weeks, so the important stuff is already gone." McGonagall was more than a little defensive, but pointedly did not defend the prisoner or demand softer treatment of him. "I won't visit him. I couldn't bear to see him in the body of my old friend. He tarnished her legacy."

"Here's the thing," a terribly upset Shacklebolt, trying to speak in a calm, reasoned tone and failing at it explained "it's not always the obvious things which do the damage. Not what you'd write in a message a raven could carry or a raven's-eye view of the Ministry control room or the Hogwarts pyramid floor. It is all she knows about how all our key players think. The deep knowledge which would emerge in an extensive, multi-day debriefing. Knowing how we think either gives them a leg up in predicting our actions and responses or slows us down and debilitates us by forcing us to go against our normal course of action, to not have our actions totally predicted. She carries a lot of subtle secrets in that warped brain."

I couldn't tell whether he was visualising the thinking of Madam Bones or Dik. Perhaps to him they were one and the same.

"You are not obligated to return a spy, just as you were not obligated to return the Venerans who invaded Norway. Rotting in prison is the normal penalty for those offences. You get to go home when your release holds some benefit for your captors. I don't see an advantage to us in just releasing Dik. Kingsley is right, that would be handing a big advantage to the Vanir, especially to the royals, whom you've said you don't want in power." Tony was staring down Percy and McGonagall alternately as he said this.

"I agree. Percy can tell the Vanir that we captured their spy, Dik. He can see what is on offer to get him back. He is not just going back for an apology or some trivial benefit. And an attack on Village Vana is not off the table." That last comment from Harry surprised me. I knew he opposed Tony's bomb proposals. I messaged him asking what sort of attack he had in mind.

Harry responded aloud to my question. "Could Yggdrasil kill or take over control of the Black Stone in Village Vana? Can we disable their entry to seid-space and the Ribbon? Can we travel through their Black Stone and grab the head priest and priestess?"

"We can visit Yggdrasil, and all have a good think upon that," Odin promised. "I'm not any happier with these Vanir than you are. I don't want them to think they've gotten away with something. I do see a role for Percy's diplomacy. Diplomats also gather intelligence. I want to know which Vanir factions will object and which will cheer if the royals and the Village Vana temple get a good smacking."

"That might be regarded as less than good-faith diplomacy," Percy sounded very skeptical of the plan.

"Of all the persons you've negotiated with, whom do you think has dealt in totally good-faith diplomacy," Tony demanded. "The question is, are you willing and capable of doing what is required?"

While Percy hesitated, Callista answered "I can. I can spy, while Percy negotiates."

Percy finally spoke: "That's far too dangerous for Callista," Percy complained. "If there must be a spy, I'll be the spy. I didn't think Harry was this much into blood-thirsty revenge. I thought we both sought peace."

"I do seek peace. I am tired of all these provocations against our world. If we look like pushovers, we will see more provocations or even an actual invasion. I cannot allow that to happen. I have a duty to protect our community and our world. Britain is in danger from these people. I did not speak of blood, although I admit my proposal may lead to bloodshed. My goal is to disable their mini Black Stone and their access to seid-space. Dik was already rewriting our personal histories and the history of our world. We can't allow Dik or anyone from his Order to do that ever again. You just don't have a grasp of how seriously dangerous an attack within seid-space can be. They can eliminate all of us, without ever coming to our world. That is the evil, which I must prevent. It is our lives, the lives of everyone we know, and everyone we don't know on this world that are at stake - a bloodless slaughter, or at least the replacement of ourselves with new versions, which are more palatable to the Order. Now do you understand?"

"I think so, I'm willing to spy."

"No, you negotiate in good faith. Callista will focus on the spying. I'm not asking her to do anything seriously dangerous. If you negotiate on Vanaheimer, the Vanir will keep both of you, if they catch one of you spying, so you are both in the same danger. If things go badly, we'll bargain you back. We'll keep Dik for that purpose. Your negotiations must be brief. If we move against the temple, while you are still in contact with the Vanir, then you will be in great danger. As you negotiate, you must verbally probe your counterparts to learn more about the Vanir power structure and their intentions. Don't answer now. You and Callista should go off and think and discuss between you. But I need to know if the two of you are able and willing to do what is needed. Are you the two who should meet with the Vanir?"

While they were gone, we discussed what information Percy could give the Vanir. He certainly must say that we discovered Dik and were most unhappy. He must demand an explanation and ask which factions approved or participated in this provocation. He must call it that. We had not given the Vanir factions access to Frijjo's personal inventory of the royals, other leaders of interest, and which she felt she could turn to her. We also had her plan for taking over Vanaheimer. Providing those would cause enough reaction that Percy and Callista might be able to learn something important. Percy would not tell them that we knew that Dik had been messing in our personal region of seid-space. Let them think we didn't know that. Let them know we didn't realise that the Village Vana religious Order had access to the Ribbon. Perhaps they didn't yet know that the Ribbon no longer flowed to our world.

When Percy and Callista returned, Percy pledged "we will do what is needed. I apologise for being a bit slow in realising the significance. I also intend to continue working diplomatically toward a stable and peaceful Vanaheimer."

"That's fine Percy. Arrange the first meeting for Asgard. You have a major issue to raise, and it may cause a ruckus..."


	65. Chapter 65

**Chapter 65 – What Shall We Do With Village Vana?**

Hermione, Cissy, Ellie, and I traveled to Asgard with Odin. We went straight to the Yggdrasil library. We told Yggdrasil about the mini Black Stone in the Village Vana, how it had been created, and how it apparently afforded the religious order of that village easy access to seid-space and the Ribbon. We explained about the spy we had caught and asked what retaliation was acceptable. I described the attack Harry wished to carry out, asking if the bigger parts of it, not the kidnappings, could be done remotely.

**That explains much. I knew that neither Odin nor I had done serious damage to the Great Black Stone of the Vanir. They crippled it themselves and they either didn't want to or lacked the ability to restore it to anything approaching its full powers. Odin and I would have fixed it long ago, but the Vanir built up so much animosity from generation-to-generation that Odin chose not to go. I tried, but failed, to fix the Stone remotely. I have no knowledge of the mini Black Stone. If it can access seid-space and the Ribbon, then it has most of the power of a normal Black Stone. It will simply think more slowly. I don't know if I can help you turn it off or destroy it. I'm not convinced that I should help you destroy it. All of the Stones are precious to me and it may serve the Vanir and all the worlds well, with better masters in the future.**

**I will consult with the Great Black Stone of the Vanir. It has seemed totally trustworthy of late. If it created this mini Stone, even if it cannot remember doing so, then a link must remain between the two. A link is always created when a Stone is moved, especially when it is removed from its mother. **

"Sounds like destroying mini Stone is verboten, but turning it off, in a way that the Order can't restart it, is fine with Yggdrasil." Hermione repeated what she interpreted Yggdrasil as having said, in a tone requesting our concurrence. We all agreed.

"I don't see Harry's kidnapping idea as essential," I admitted. "It is also far riskier than remotely turning off the Black Stone. If that is enough to keep the Order out of seid-space, I'm very certain that my husband will grow to be comfortable with the adequacy of our reprisal, both to make a point that they need to leave us alone and to vastly reduce their capacity for mischief."

I heard a lot of "I agree" comments. I received a Stone message and thought Yggdrasil had our answer. It was Harry.

**The Vanir have agreed to resume diplomacy tomorrow. They are willing to meet at Valhalla.**

"Not safe with Sigrun, I replied.

Odin had also heard the message and gave Harry his blessing. Turning to me, he promised "we can keep Percy and Callista safe. I'll stay at Valhalla and keep Sigrun company during the talks. I have two new wolves. I'll bring them. Also the ravens and sleipnir. It will be great fun. The four of you can Apparate to Valhalla in an instant, if more help is needed. It would go a long way to establishing yourselves on Asgard, if you put Sigrun in her place. Ginny can visit her brother. Good, It's settled."

Not the way I would have liked to see it settled, but I couldn't dispute that it was settled. While I was musing, Odin had hurried on.

"...Snape. He can be your spy, when I'm gone."

I looked to Hermione for help.

"We're scheduled to dine with Professor Snape, apparently."

Dinner came before Yggdrasil finished thinking. Making a larger version of itself must really slow its thinking power.

Snape, unfortunately was still very much the Snape whom I remembered. As in his Dumbledore days, even when being self-sacrificingly 'helpful' he was an arrogant, disdainful, pain in the ass. To say he wasn't looking forward to being our spy would be an understatement. The sneers and verbal sparring ruined a very fine steak dinner. At least Snape rebooted into purely factual mode in time for me to enjoy an excellent pie made from local Asgard berries. Snape's reprise of what he learned in his spy missions was mercifully crisp and devoid of his prior commenting on all which displeased him.

"I'm sure you remember Roger the blabber, who sold your secrets to the Americans. He's gone missing. You must find him quickly, before the Americans or the British press finds him."

"No problem, Harry says he's already settled on my land, right here on Asgard. He's not going to be found."

"Good. Sigrun appears to be biding her time. She hasn't bothered Fred or any of your other dead."

"Good. Don't you also identify with them?"

That produced only a stare, followed by "I would not trust the Vanir as much as Percy does. I believe they agree to meet at Valhalla, because they expect help from Sigrun. A Vanir member of their 'discuss-the-future-government-compromise-while-their-allies-kill-their-opponents-behind-the-scenes negotiating team was seen meeting with Sigrun. It was my raven who saw them. The negotiators name is Paxon. I trust you and Percy are able to deal with that."

"Mr. Ollivander was seen walking on a side street in Alexandria, Egypt. He was wearing a turban and had a rather vacant expression on his face. The same minor God who helped kidnap Ollivander was walking beside him. Sometimes Ollivander needed to lean on him for support. By the time the raven reported back to me, Ollivander was nowhere to be found. This was three weeks ago."

"And you're just telling us now?"

"I still spy for Odin, not you. Odin has been away, so I haven't been able to pass along my report.

"Madam Bones was seen meeting with Narcissa Malfoy two weeks ago."

"Now that is interesting. Madam Bones is actually a transfigured Vanir and a spy."

"Nobody told me."

"As you say, I've been away. I left you a message with Yggdrasil. You really should keep in contact. Yggdrasil can always reach me," Odin's tone was a little sharp. He realized that Snape didn't want to work for us. He expected his freedom, when Odin was no longer corporeal.

As if realizing he had surfaced this issue before he was ready to, Snape looked directly as Hermione as he mused "it is time to consider whether or not we are going to be able to work together, after Odin departs as spirit. You and your friends have close ties to Potter and the new administration, which can be an advantage. As you suspect, I could never be a Ministry employee, even under a pseudonym or totally off the books. I treasure my independence. Odin rarely gives me a specific assignment, which I always diligently rush to complete, but I am happiest following my own lead. I travel, discerning what is important and following my nose and gut. If I am led by anyone or anything, it is by my ravens. I've grown to love and depend upon them. They serve ME well. If I were to spy for you, I'd have to be viewed as an ally, a wiser, more experienced head, who can be of help to you. We won't get along and it won't work if you get the idea that you can order me about. I still think of myself as your professor... a professor who hasn't yet taught you half of what he could."

"We can live with that," I told him. "I'll talk to my husband about that. Would you expect to be paid?"

"Even a spy needs to eat and a warm, dry spot to rest his head. I won't over-charge you. Let's say two hundred galleons a year. I doubt it can come from the Ministry treasury. Harry will simply have to find a way."

"That shouldn't be a problem," I boldly asserted, before I fully thought what I was committing Harry to.

"Fine!" Snape replied, as he picked up and sipped from his brandy glass. He seemed very pleased with himself, as if he had just swindled me. I was sipping my brandy, as I got a message to join Yggdrasil in its library.

"You're off to a plot, aren't you?" Snape accused, more than questioned. "I can be of more value to you, if I participate in the planning. What ARE you up to... Ow! That hurt! Have you no respect?"

Trump had attempted a very bold Legilimens attack on my mind, pushing ever harder, as my vastly improved Occlumency skill pushed back at the intrusion. He had persisted and I had slapped him back. Perhaps I did so overly harshly, but the intrusion angered me. It was a greater violation than if he had reached his filthy hands up my robes and I refused to tolerate it or to leave any ambiguity about the depth of my anger. "If we are to work together, you will have to stop invading my mind. I am a Light Guardian priestess, who learned from the ancient priestesses, Odin, and Yggdrasil. If I had pushed back as strongly as I can, you'd be a vegetable and no use to any of us."

"My apologies... both for the intrusion and for underestimating you. It really would have aided my spying to know what you are working on."

"If you had asked to come with us to Yggdrasil, I would have granted my permission. I'll tell you a bit more, when we are all in the privacy of the library. By the way, I have taught Harry to be a fairly good Occlumens. You were a lousy teacher on that subject... all too much your own agenda. He would not take at all kindly to your intruding upon his mind as you just did upon mine. Shall we go to the library?"

As we joined hands, Snape's face bore a surprised look.

As soon as we were seated in the library, I informed Snape "what we are considering is the best way to give a good smacking to the priesthood and royals in Village Vana, for planting a spy in our midst. We don't intend to allow them to get away with that."

"Please, allow me to be of service."

"I'm not really thinking as much slower than you probably think I am. I've been working with the Great Black Stone of the Vanir. It had misplaced the memory of creating the mini Stone. We had to search around some damaged areas to find the record of that birthing. That allowed us to find the faint trace ribbon, which was created when the mini Stone was Apparated to the Village Vana. That was so long ago and the path had never been followed, so the ribbon had all but withered away to nothing, but it is still usable and the Great Black Stone is providing magical force to restore it to semi-usable ribbon status. Apart from the Great Black Stone being forced to forget, the treatment and withering of the transport ribbon aren't unusual. Moving a Black Stone within the same one world is most unusual. It takes far less magical energy than to Apparate the new Stone to another world. For that reason, the ribbon starts life much weaker. Since it is just a Stone-to-Stone path within a world, there really isn't a future need to use it. So, you are lucky, the ribbon exists; the Great Black Stone now remembers the precise location of its mini; it also is fully willing to assist in smacking the Village Vana temple. It is indignant that it was forced to forget its child, that it was forced into relative death, and that Village Vana continues to slight it. This is the most unusual thing for a Stone: it seeks revenge.

"We will be most happy to force the mini to sleep for a time. Of course we could never permanently damage it. We are willing to facilitate your travel across the ribbon. You may bring back prisoners if you wish. Please don't kill. We revere life and would be disappointed in you."

That was what we needed to know. From our end, Harry's plan was possible. We needed to hear from Percy and Callista. Since their meeting didn't begin for another day, that might well be a full week in the future.

"We should go to Valhalla to see to arrangements for tomorrow's conference." Odin pushed us.

"We should make it a visit to Fred. If we go in force Sigrun is unlikely to be a problem. I'll contact Harry."

I told Harry about our success with Yggdrasil and suggested that he and others join us for a trip to Valhalla to get Percy, Callista and anyone else in their party installed and to visit Fred. I admitted that making a big show of force to Sigrun was a major purpose for including so many persons.

Harry readily agreed, saying he knew many persons who wanted to visit fallen family members. He would contact Andromeda. He might not come himself. McGonagall badly wanted to visit with the original Madam Bones and it wouldn't be appropriate for both of them to walk into danger together, when it was so easily avoidable.

Fred was very happy to see us. "Things have been pretty good of late. I've managed to extend my range to just over ten miles from this place. Sigrun treats us well, but I can tell she has gone half-nuts thinking about Odin's departure. Odin has promised to stay in the neighborhood as a spirit and frequently visit her. After the general greetings and his report, Fred made it very clear that he wished to be alone with George. He spent fifteen minutes with the whole family, me included, but then sent us off to speak with others.

Hermione was talking with Dumbledore. She would get his analysis of the situation at Valhalla and probably other intelligence. Dumbledore used ravens. He could stand to just sit around and enjoy the pleasures of Valhalla. Hermione would tell me what she learned. I was up for that level of serious. I knew that, in all likelihood, I would be among those who entered the temple in Village Vana and kidnapped a handful of notables. I knew it would be very dangerous. I knew this was just one of my problems. I wanted light. I needed light conversation, someone amusing. I sought out Tonks. When I was a child, Tonks had been my favorite adult.

I know Harry loves Tonks, but I knew her years before he did. I knew almost all of the Order. They often met at my parents' house and, although I obviously was excluded from the meetings, I was allowed to share meals with them. Most ignored me, or had very little to say to me. I was younger than the experience range of Hogwarts professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sprout, and Promphrey. They didn't know quite what to say to me, so they said almost nothing. Perhaps a "Hi Ginny, how much you've grown." Tonks spent time with me. She didn't just entertain me with changes of hair, face, and body shape. She actually talked to me. She explained what a metamorphmagus is, what it feels like to change your body, what you have to think to do it and to successfully change back. Suffice it to say that nobody spent more time studying themselves in a mirror, often nude, than Tonks did. She had to keep up with what aging did to her natural body, lest she lose it forever. She talked of the fright she experienced when she morphed while drunk and failed repeatedly to morph back, taking a whole day to get her proper self right. She lent me her wand to try to change my own hair color. I couldn't do it back then. With everything I've learned from the Light Guardian, the ancient priestess memories stored in our Black Stone, and from Odin and Yggdrasil, I'm certain I could pull off the trick, if I had to. That's the only reason I occasionally study myself in my mirror. I'm not at all vain. I am scared of changing and not being able to change back properly, like Dik. I won't transfigure myself for frivolous reasons. I don't blame Tonks for this particular exercise of personal freedom. She's born to it. It's safer for her.

Tonks disappointed me by being in a serious mood. "I fear what may happen, when Odin departs. Sigrun curses him and says he will soon desert us. Is that true."

"He promised to stay as long as he can. He's dying. One way or another, he'll be gone within a year, two at most. I hope he does it while he still has the strength to transform to spirit. He promised to hang around as a spirit to help us make a success of the transition. He is at peace with his situation. He believes that he won his last Ragnarok and all will be well. He's training us to succeed him. I've learned a lot."

"That's a little better than I feared. I fear that nothing but fear of Odin and a lingering, but fading, sense of loyalty to him are all which hold Sigrun in check. I'd be careful, if i were you. She also sees you as her successor. There are many here who will fight to protect you, but she is strong, as are her allies among the older Valkarie. Some spirits fade, others grow stronger. The oldest Valkarie have been here for millennia and have only strengthened."

"Are you safe?"

"I can turn myself into truly frightening creatures. Sigrun wouldn't know which end of the new me to attack. Fred and Dumbledore and his pals protect me. Of course Remus is my main protector. He's very sweet, but also tough. Sigrun is a little afraid of the wolf. I see Odin brought two. That means he expected trouble. There is a rumor of a big conference being held here. Sigrun isn't happy about that. It is rumored that she expects a fight and will be looking for heroic souls to capture. Warn your team to be on guard. I understand Percy and Callista. Callista's the better fighter of the two, although Percy is reputed to have been an above average student dueler. I hope they will bring some aurors."

I had to admit that I really didn't know. We all stayed until early morning to greet and eat breakfast with all the many Vanir, from all the many factions. There were twenty-eight of them in all. Percy and Callista arrived with just four aides, and I only recognized three of them as aurors. I thought that we should hang around, just to keep everyone safe. I felt it important to stay at least until after Percy had officially aired Harry's grievance and hint of a threat, if the Vanir pretended that a formal apology was adequate recompense. Percy spoke loudly and clearly, outlining the situation and our level of concern in bold terms. He demanded an explanation.

There was an uproar, with most of the Vanir verbally accosting the three representatives of the royals, demanding to know why they would so foolishly jeopardize all Vanir in this attempt to gain advantage for their faction.

"Don't be foolish! How could we hope to gain an advantage over you? We did this for all Vanir. The Terrans could be a threat."

"A Terran guides these negotiations. You sought to gain information to leverage him to favor you."

"That's dumb. Our man was on Terra over a decade ago. How could we have foreseen this meeting and subvert the Terran facilitator?"

"Don't play stupid. We know you play in seid-space. We know that you have the ability to go back in time. Your man could have left Vanir yesterday and spent a decade on Terra.'

I must admit that I hadn't thought of that possibility. Apparently neither had Percy. It clearly was extremely important to sever Village Vanir's link to seid-space. We had already severed our Ribbon Link to Vanaheimer and the other inner worlds, but were still vulnerable to a seid attack.

I worried that the Vanir were just putting on an emotional show for our benefit, to shed responsibility for the spy onto a few royals. Perhaps they really were all cooperating with each other and we were outnumbered as we sat here. I had my defenses dialed up to full and messaged my colleagues to do the same.

One of the Vanir royals fell from his seat, looking dead and a fight quickly broke out. I and the rest of us pulled our wands and stepped back. Percy was trying to placate the fighters, until Barb and I pulled him back. The fight suddenly came to an end. The other two royals, along with two other Vanir, were on the ground and appeared to be dead. One of the Vanir called for a brief recess "to take out the trash."

A Vanir, who must have been in the same faction as one of the non-royal dead demanded "who are you calling trash."

"Sorry, I refer only to the royals." The two seemed content with this resolution. Two delegations claimed one of the dead as their own. Ceremoniously wrapping them in a tablecloth as an improvised shroud. They promised to return, when they could.

As one of the members of each of those delegations traveled back to Vanir, and the other Vanir chattered among themselves, the remaining member of the two depleted factions marched up to Odin to voice their grievances. The huddle of the other Vanir broke up and the spokesman addressed us. "Does the killing of the three royals satisfy the honor of Terra."

McGonagall boldly stepped forward, declaring "No. I'm sorry. Those weren't the ones who sent the spy to us. I'd bet a lot on that opinion. I haven't heard so much as an apology."

"I'd willingly apologize if any of our factions had anything to do with Dik and his spying. He is a priest from the Village Vana and a royal. That is where your grievance lies. We dare not invade the Village Vana to capture those who directed Dik. We will not object if you act against them." He called out the two representatives, who were still complaining to Odin.

"I don't care if you kill all the royals and their puppet priests. Their priestesses aren't political."

The other nodded assent. That was my cue. Our party departed for Yggdrasil. The assault was on.


	66. Chapter 66

**Chapter 66 – Village Vana?**

It was a strange raiding party. We needed technical skills as much as fighting skills. We had Barb, and another auror, named Phyllis, for their fighting skills. Hermione and Ellie could hold their own in battle but were mainly technical support. Cissy and I could fight with Transfiguration or curse and had been one with Yggdrasil and other Black Stones. We could take a big part. This would be in-and-out, a quick strike. We had bombs, Weasley Black Out (guaranteed improvement over its predecessor), black-penetrating magical goggles (also Weasley) and some of Captain Davies flash bang mini bombs. Yggdrasil would cover our retreat by sending the temple's mini Stone into a deep sleep, from which the temple staff would be unable to wake it.

We had to complete the mission before any of the Vanir at the conference could return or message home. Yggdrasil was blocking the Vanir from travel or communication, but I had to assume they would eventually find a way around that, even if just a raven-delivered note. We charged up inside Yggdrasil for an hour. I contacted Harry, while we charged, explaining the necessity for an immediate attack. Harry didn't think Hermione, Cissy, and I should participate, but soon agreed there wasn't an alternative. He would prepare a rescue party of aurors in case we ran into problems. With Yggdrasil having totally locked down all communication and travel through itself and the Great Black Stone of the Vanir, Harry's team couldn't travel to Yggdrasil, until we had already departed for Vanaheimer.

We never actually set foot upon the floor of the pyramid. We all became one with the Great Black Stone and were transported in quick succession through the mini Stone to the floor of the temple. Barb and Phyllis went first. I was next. It was fine, in theory, for Barb and Phyllis to protect me, by facing the initial threats, but by arriving after them, I was deprived of the chance to properly orient to our battle space.

I felt lost. By the time I arrived, the floor of the temple was Weasley black. With my goggles, I could still see through the magical fog, but the view was disorienting, being grey, indistinct, and like looking down a tunnel. It was like my vision on Hel, when wearing my helmet - limited field of vision, all greys, confusing, and most threatening, not allowing me to see dangers to either side, unless I turned my head and lost track of threats in front of me. It left me dangerously vulnerable to an unexpected attack. I saw Barb in front of me and sensed Phyllis to my right. Hermione was right behind me. I knew I had to move forward to make space for the others, I edged around Barb, speaking to her first and then touching her shoulder, so that she knew who and where I was. I saw figures running and dropped them with 'Petrificus Totalis'. I chided myself for not using the far quicker 'Off! Not only quicker but would prevent the fallen from accumulating further memories of us. I saw a figure in a priest or priestess gown moving across my path, not ten feet ahead of me and dropped it as well. Hermione was trying to drop another gowned figure and failing. I added my curse, without success. "Double 'Off!' curse," I shouted as I dove to the floor beside Hermione. My right knee hurt at once. I ignored the pain. We touched wand tips, there was a flash, and the figure dropped. I kept turning my head to find threats, rising to my knees, in a great deal of pain, so I could check for threats behind me. I saw one and fired an 'Off! That worked. I saw several moving figures, too faint, too far, and too fast to deal with. They were bound to reorganise and attack us as a group. It was time to escape, there were too many to fight. Successful or not, our attack was over. One of the figures turned and charged right at me, raising both arms together, with the hands in a position which could only mean that a very heavy sword was about to be swung at me. As the arms descended, I Apparated behind the figure and used the 'Off!'. I heard the clang of sword against stone, as the figure collapsed on the floor.

"You take this one, I'll take the other robed figure," I told Hermione. To the others, I shouted "time to go!"

I crawled to the person I had petrified, realising I was near their circle. I Accio'd the central gem and tossed an exceedingly small bomb into the outer rings of crystals. The gem went into my pocket. I was too busy and my world too grey to identify the gem. I Apparated my captive to the mini Stone, falling farther to the floor than I had expected, then falling upon the mini Stone and banging my right elbow as I landed upon it, and was back inside the Yggdrasil library. I Apparated my prisoner into a corner of the library and propped her against the walls. She wore an elaborate priestess robe. Hermione was not far behind me. She had a priest. Cissy had a priestess. Ellie had a prisoner who wasn't in religious garb. She also had a chunk of stone slab. Barb, who had been guarding our retreat, arrived with Phyllis and another civilian. Phyllis was alive, but had a sword cut, which had almost severed an arm. Hermione and I got right to healing her, having to devote all our initial attention to stopping the bleeding and blocking the pain.

Barb was complaining "you say civilian, but this one was a fighter. She did Phyllis with her sword. She would have killed her with a second stroke if I hadn't used a quick 'Off!"

**The mini Stone sleeps. You must take your prisoners to your world immediately. Odin may not see them, and he is needed to repair your friend.**

"We'll do our best for Phyllis," I promised Barb. "Please take the prisoners and return to the Hogwarts pyramid. Cissy and Ellie will go with you. You must report to Harry."

They were gone in an instant. A minute later, Odin appeared. "I see why you needed me, that arm's a mess. I should be able to repair it - not as good as new, but very functional. You go and keep the peace at Valhalla."

We did as Odin ordered. I saw that his absence had led to further turmoil, or perhaps things were this chaotic, when he was forced to leave.

Hermione saw my limp and pointed at my knee.

"I can manage for now," I told her.

An unhappy looking Vanir diplomat approached. I tried to calm myself from my battle high and not appear as though I was considering dropping him on the spot. He hesitated just a fraction of a second, but then spoke boldly, although he avoided getting overly close to me.

"I tried to reach my leader, back on Vanaheimer and was blocked by Odin," one of the diplomats complained as soon as he saw us. "Now Odin is gone. I demand to know what is happening!"

"And I am here to tell you. As you know, the ten years that Dik spent as a spy on our world and his prior efforts to re-write our lives in seid-space, was the latest act of war against my world by the Vanir. Prior to that, we were cursed from the roof of your Government House, after being invited to a banquet in our honour, ambushed by Miomor's guards and dark Gods in the chamber of the White Columns after being given explicit permission to study that chamber, attacked in seid-space by Gna, attacked by Frijjo, and generally mistreated by your people. We are tired of being treated as the junior world, which everyone else can take advantage of. We have struck back. We just completed an attack upon the temple in the Village Vana. Their mini Black Stone now sleeps, their magical circle is out of service, and we have taken five prisoners, whose identity is unknown to me now. Yggdrasil has restored communication to Vanaheimer, and you are free to message your factions or return home. Know that if there are any further attacks upon my world, that we will respond more forcefully. That is all that I have to say."

"Does this mean that your world is no longer aggrieved with ours."

"I think I can accurately state that our government considers all past matters settled and is willing to work peacefully with whatever new government you choose for yourselves."

The diplomats split into little groups as they conferenced with the leaders of their factions. The leaders of the factions then met. The same diplomat who had addressed us before informed me "my people also agree a halt to our disputes. It is even and we are willing to move forward in peace. The royals will not be a part of our new government. We are willing to continue these talks. Our factions have our own accounts to settle with the royals. They do not need us to return home to accomplish what must be done."

I thanked him and told the group that we must return home but would leave them in Percy's capable hands. Just as we were about to leave, Barb returned with another auror. I told her we were off to Yggdrasil and would check on the condition of Phyllis."

Odin was done working on Phyllis's arm. He was proud of the job he had done. "She must remain within Yggdrasil for a week, then she can return home. She will be fine. She lost much blood, but she drinks, and she strengthens."

Odin promised to contact us very soon. It was back to Hogwarts.

Harry immediately rushed up to me, giving me a tight hug and a big snog, as if he feared that something bad had happened to me.

"Didn't Barb tell you that we were all fine, except for Phyllis, and that Phyllis will be mostly fine, within a few days?"

"Yes, but that didn't take the edge off. The reprisal raid came much faster than I had planned. I didn't want you on it - auror work...No, I'm not upset that you did what you did. You messaged me, before you attacked, and Barb gave more background. It was attack when you did, or not at all. Perhaps not at all was the best choice. I was angry yesterday. I spoke more aggressively then than I felt today. That's my bad. I just began to worry that an attack had little chance of accomplishing much good and that causing the mini Stone to sleep was probably as big a message as I needed to send to the Village Vana and the temple religious order. So, now we have five more prisoners. Barb says those not in the religious order were fighters. I'm pleased, but amazed, that the other Vanir factions aren't upset by the attack. Of course, you knew that before you attacked. I'm babbling. And you're hurt. You should sit and let your injuries be attended to."

I said that I preferred that Hermione tend to me. She had better magical healing skills than Doctor Wright. While she was working on my knee, I pulled the gem, which I had stolen from the temple circle, out of my pocket. I held it up for Harry and Hermione to view. It was a full-sized purple diamond. "I suspect that the royals and temple Order won't be too pleased to have lost this. I think we can consider our raid to have been a definite success."

"Brilliant!" Ron pumped his fist.

"We need to identify our prisoners and I'm sure Ellie wants to analyse her stone sample. The more we can know by tomorrow, the more confident I'll be. There may well be a counterattack. I don't think this is over," Hermione warned.

Dik was a broken Vanir. He had already revealed so much. He would have trouble posing as the brave hero spy. He didn't seem to want to have more spiked Veritaserum poured down his throat. He had been ill in the night after his last experience with the Veritaserum. Hermione probably had used an unsafe amount. That was very unlike Hermione. Dik readily identified our prisoners, exacting a promise that we wouldn't reveal that he had supplied that information. We had the head priest, the number two priestess, and a female being groomed for the Order. We also had two rank-and-file temple guards. Yes, the blue stone I held in my hand was the only one the royals possessed. Dik threatened that whatever we did to him and our other prisoners would be very mild compared to what his cohorts did to us, and our friends, and our families, and our allies, and any Terrans who might be stupid enough to get in their way. I suspect they are already storming across the ribbon, arriving at a spot on your world, which you will be unable to predict, because we randomise. I pity you your future and what will surely be a most unpleasant death.


	67. Chapter 67

**Chapter 67 – The Vanir Royals Are Unhappy, But What Can They Do About It?**

Harry and I were having dinner at Hermione's house, when we all received a mental message from Percy. The Vanir royals were incredibly angry. We had attacked them without provocation. We had slaughtered diplomats, whom they had sent under a pledge of safety. They would be avenged if satisfaction wasn't provided. Our insult must be resolved within a day, or they would take serious action. They demanded that one of their diplomats be permitted to travel by Stone to Valhalla to present their demands. Odin had told Percy that "the request to meet should be rejected. It was a trick: a hidden bomb, a fatal disease, a whole army showing up at Valhalla. Beyond that, "their requirements were likely to be the stupid, puerile mental meanderings of a degenerate royal class locked in a time several millennia ago, when their wishes actually mattered."

Percy was referring the question to us, as the people most affected by the request and the threat behind it. Percy wanted us to know that he was willing to meet with the Vanir royal representative and didn't fear the tricks, which Odin had mentioned.

"Tell the Vanir to send a note and we will read it, but we have no desire for a personal meeting. Tell them that we did not kill any of their diplomats, that was the work of their fellow Vanir diplomats. You can also tell them that we know all about Dik and felt our response to that affront was wholly justified." Harry didn't give Percy a chance to object to that order.

"Such cheek of them," Ron exclaimed. "We at least need to prepare a defence and a counterattack. If they attack, it might be time for a really big bomb."

"Whatever they try, we will be ready," Harry promised.

A note arrived at Valhalla, by raven, mid-morning on the next day. Odin had collected the note and read it to Percy, the Vanir delegates, and us.

WE DON'T CARE WHO ACTUALLY KILLED OUR DIPLOMATS. YOU AND ODIN GUARANTEED THEIR SAFETY. YOU ATTACKED A SACRED TEMPLE TO THE VANIR LIGHT GUARDIAN RELIGION. YOU DESTROYED A MAGICAL CIRCLE, KILLED OUR BLACK STONE, STOLE OUR PURPLE DIAMOND, STOLE THE HEAD PRIEST AND TWO RANKING PRIESTESSES. YOU ALSO KIDNAPPED TWO TEMPLE GUARDS AND INJURED SEVEN OTHER PERSONS. YOU CONSPIRE WITH OUTLAW FACTIONS AGAINST WE, THE ONLY RIGHTFUL RULERS OF VANAHEIMER, UNDER THE SPECIFIC AUTHORITY OF THE LIGHT GUARDIAN. WE CONSIDER OURSELVES TO BE AT WAR WITH TERRA. SERIOUS ACTION WILL BE TAKEN AGAINST YOUR WORLD AND ODIN UNLESS YOU COMPLY WITH ALL OF THESE DEMANDS, WITHIN TWO OF YOUR DAYS:

RETURN THE PURPLE DIAMOND

RETURN ALL OF OUR PEOPLE WHOM YOU KIDNAPPED

AGREE TO STOP INTERFERING IN THE POLITICAL AFFAIRS OF OUR PEOPLE

ARREST AND TURN OVER THOSE WHO KILLED OUR DIPLOMATS

REPAIR OUR BLACK STONE AND CIRCLE

MAKE A PUBLIC APOLOGY TO THE PEOPLE OF VANIR

RETURN THE ROYAL PENDANT TO US

SEND 3000 KATAPS OF SILVER

If you are curious, this is about twenty metric tons of silver. That's a heck of a lot of silver.

Harry sent for Deputy Minister McGonagall and Director Shacklebolt. The five of us helped Harry draft a response. Harry was not in a very diplomatic mood and we had to tone down his reply a little.

I think it was to the point and served its purpose.

'Your diplomats were not under our protection; they were under Odin's protection. I doubt Odin expected twenty-eight Vanir diplomats to show up. We were expecting perhaps a half dozen and were too outnumbered to prevent the other diplomats from fighting with and killing your diplomats, who killed two of the other diplomats. It is possible that your diplomats did the first killing. Your offences against our sovereignty and human rights are many. We will never accept that Terra is a junior partner who must accept whatever you and the Venerans care to do to us. We know you were in league with both the Venerans and the Dark Gods, which makes your protestations of violating a Light Guardian temple laughable. Vanir royals and members of the Village Vana religious order have spied upon us, invaded us, tried to assassinate members of our duly authorised and invited Quest team, and tried to trick us into enabling the Dark Gods. We feel that our counterstrike was mandatory and relatively temperate. Talk to your Veneran allies. They tried to invade us. They lost over a thousand of their soldier caste. If you cause any more trouble for us, we will strike you much harder the next time.

We will not even consider returning the purple diamond or the pendant to you. They are both weapons. We know all about them. Once the other factions agree upon a government, we will give them the diamond and very possibly the pendant, which we know is used to control purple diamond circles. We will return the prisoners whom we captured in our raid once a satisfactory peace accord has been agreed. Dik is guilty of spying and impersonating a member of our community. We do not intend to return him any time soon. We will not repair your circle, nor your mini Black Stone, as these are the sources of your corrupt power. We know that the scroll documenting your authority from the Light Guardian is a forgery and a relatively recent one, at that. We have a statement from Frijjo admitting this. Your demand for an apology and an obscene amount of silver are rejected. We will require a formal apology from you for spying and invading our world. If you consider trying to carry out your threats, please be advised that we are fully capable of defending ourselves and of striking back far harder. Since I want peace, I am hoping that you are not as stupid as you are foolishly prideful. We fully understand how weak you really are. Frijjo and Gna talked. Our prisoners have talked. You don't have as many secrets as you think. The Dark Gods will no longer help you; their most militant members are dead, and they have made peace with us. Know that you cannot use the Ribbon Between Worlds to invade us.

We have no intention of interfering in the affairs of the Vanir people, unless your actions force the matter.

Harry Potter, Minister for Magic, Great Britain'

The Ministry had the message formally inked onto a parchment scroll, using black ink, with red and gold decoration. It was delivered to the Vanaheimer pyramid and then dispatched by an exceptionally large bird to the Village Vana.

Harry had bluffed in his letter, about our most recent prisoners having talked. He was now determined to quickly turn that bluff into reality. As truth tellers, and the ones who captured them, Hermione, Cissy, and I sat in on the questioning of our prisoners - at least the head priest and two priestesses. The aurors questioned the two temple guards.

We began the questioning with the head priest. Even with Odin's Legilimency help, he proved a very tough nut to crack. We didn't want to really crack his mind, so we couldn't push too hard. He was sent back to his cell and we tried our luck with the younger priestess. It was slow going, but she did do some talking and Odin harvested some other thoughts from her brain, as Shacklebolt loudly asked a surprise question or two. We learned of an emergency escape tunnel running from the basement of the temple to a point within a grove of trees in a grain field to the east of the village. This information was passed along to Percy, to be used, as appropriate, to keep the negotiation to form a new government moving along. We also learned that higher ranking priestess, whom we had captured, was Dik's girlfriend. Odin finally struck the core of protected secrets: the royals knew of and were about to launch Frijjo's plan to cause the deaths of their main adversaries, take over, and invade us. They thought us to be an easier target than Odin's Asgard. They had just come up with this plan, having previously thought it best to invade Asgard directly. They were afraid of the million new Aesir, whom Odin had recently brought to Asgard, viewing them as the soldiers and families of Odin's personal army.

"I think," Hermione suggested "that we may not be making the most of these initial interviews of the new prisoners. We should see if we can learn anything else from Dik first. If he tells us more, we might leverage that to get these prisoners to talk. We all but struck out with the head priest. I don't want to miss getting the most out of our questioning of the number two priestess."

The rest of us agreed, so aurors were sent to fetch Dik, who had been in his Gringotts's vault cell this whole time, his questioning postponed, because we needed to deal with the captured head priest and the two priestesses. Not knowing how much pressure might come from the new Vanir government to turn Dik over to them, we spent the next day extracting as much information from Dik as was humanly possible, while staying within the bounds of humanity. We didn't do anything as severe as Hermione's prior pouring extra Veritaserum down his throat. In fairness, a British Wizard of Dik's size would not have experienced as severe a reaction to the extra dose as Dik did.

We were helped by two of his guards, who chatted more than they should have, allowing Dik to learn of the planned conquest of Village Vana by the new government, and of that governments antagonism toward him: he was nothing but a spy for the royals, a pretend priest and a bad forger. He volunteered to answer any questions if we promised that he wouldn't be sent back home. We obviously couldn't make such an agreement. That was the province of Harry and the Wizengamot. We told Dik that we needed higher up approval. That delayed questioning for two hours. Harry, Shacklebolt, McGonagall, and Mrs. Longbottom joined us for the questioning. Mrs. Longbottom brought a parchment signed by herself, Harry, and the leader of the Wizengamot. It both granted him asylum and declared that he would be imprisoned for five years. His living condition under confinement would improve in proportion to the value of the information he provided.

He confirmed what I had suspected. Ron's wand hadn't gone to the Death Eaters. Dik had dissected it. He had sent a detailed drawing of its design back to the Order. He had sent his analysis of the thinking style and tendencies in reacting to attack or crisis for many of our leaders: Voldemort, Dumbledore, Shacklebolt, Dad, Harry, McGonagall, all three original members of the Malfoy family, Neville, Hermione, me, Mr. Lovegood, Barnabas Cuffe, a half dozen key Wizengamot members, a half dozen aurors, Dr. Sprout, Dr. Wright, Lord Montaigne and Bruce, and a very little information on Cissy. We also pried from his mind that the priestess Arma, the second ranking priestess in the order, was the favorite girlfriend, whom he knew still waited for him. He had received a Raven from her only a year ago. That made the forced continuation of his mission bearable, but also made him even more desperate to find a way home to her. He had devoted the bulk of his spying to finding a way to return home, but had been stymied at every turn. He thought he was close. He had found the Hogwarts pyramid and Black Stone. He thought he could persuade McGonagall to grant him permission to travel by the Stone. His heart had been light, then...

The priestess Arma was next. We told her that we knew about her, not officially blessed, relationship with Dik and that Dik had done a lot of talking. She didn't believe that, declaring "Dik is strong."

We told her some of what Dik had revealed, falsely ascribing our knowledge of the secret escape tunnel to Dik's blabbing. That, and the spiked Veritaserum, did her in. She told us that the tunnel was guarded by two of the temple guards at each end. They weren't magical, but carried swords and daggers, and could trigger a booby trap to collapse the tunnel a hundred feet from either end. We told her that Dik had requested and been granted asylum. She didn't believe that either. We brought in Dik to confirm that one point, then led him away. She promptly offered "I'll answer any of your questions if I also am granted asylum. I don't want to return home. I want to stay with Dik and have him all to myself."

We learned how the priestesses are organised, with only the head priestess having any real power. We hadn't captured the head priestess. Arma did give us a detailed layout of the temple and surrounding structures, some of which were housing for the priests, priestesses, and the royal who watched over the order. This royal was ranked number three in the line of succession. She told us that the temple had thirty nonmagical and five magical guards. The magical guards were on the main floor of the temple and were mainly there to keep the priests and priestesses in order. They reported to the royal who lived next to the temple. Two of the temple guards were always assigned to protect him.

With the royals gone, Percy had managed to broker a transitional Vanir government, which would run the capital and most of the rest of the planet, other than the immediate environs of the Village Vana. It was agreed that elections would be held in three years. It was also agreed that the monarchy and all royal and noble rank were immediately abolished.

The leader of the royals sent word to us that he wished to negotiate for the return of the prisoners we captured in our raid. We agreed to meet at Odin's palace in a week. "Do not expect an apology," Harry warned. Harry chose Shacklebolt to represent his government, telling Percy that this was a military matter. Before the first meeting could be held, the new transitional government attacked and captured the Village Vana. We immediately turned all our prisoners over to the new government, along with the purple diamond and the pendant.

Dik and Arma were pleased with their deal, especially after Dik was permitted to spend his jail term under house arrest with Arma. They both knew that they would not be kindly received were they to return to Vanaheimer. We soon learned just how lucky Dik and Arma were to be living on our world. The new government was rounding up the royals and putting them on trial for crimes against the Vanir people and insurrection. The head priest and head priestess were included in this group. We soon heard that they were all executed. Dik was now the second in line of royal succession, making him a prime target for assassination. The novice priestess, whom we handed over to the new government could become a novice Server of the Great Black Stone. The two temple guards were permitted to join the new government's police.

Arma requested that Hermione and I instruct her in our knowledge of the Light Guardian. She was awed that we had seen and spoken with the Light Guardian. She told me "I must make a vow of personal and religious loyalty to the Mother and her Muse. That way I will know that my old life is well behind me. We were tools of the royals. I hope you will put in a word with the new Vanir government on behalf of my fellow priestesses. They are mainly just particularly good and devout Witches."

I did that. I learned that, apart from the head priestess, the other priestesses would be permitted to go about their religious duties but must not return to the Village Vana. They set up a Temple on the outskirts of the City Vana, saying it would be a bridge between the urban and rural Vanir. I had learned enough to know that the gulf between these two groups was enormous. It would be difficult to bridge. The rural Vanir still sheltered the number one royal and called him the king and rightful ruler of all Vanir.

After three days of sharing Dik's Gringotts jail cell, Arma asked if they could be put somewhere from which daylight could be seen. "But even more important than that, could Hermione please remove her curse from Dik. It is very frustrating and unfamiliar to finally be reunited with my lover, after more than ten of your years, and have him be in the form of a Terran Witch. I need for Dik to be Dik."

Hermione removed her spell and Dik became Dik before our eyes. We promised to ask about a cottage for them, warning that they would be confined to the house and its garden, unless escorted to some other place by us. If they tried to escape, they could spend the rest of their lives back at Gringotts. Dik replied "it will be most comfortable to have our world expanded to that extent. You need not fear us trying to escape. We wish to remain as hidden as possible. You cannot imagine how dangerous the head royal is. Now that I am theoretically next in line, for a position which doesn't even exist, he will try to find me and have me killed. I am not afraid to die, but I will not put Arma at risk. At least I won't needlessly put her in any more risk than she already is. The priestesses are surely not at all happy with her. I fear that they also will hunt for us. A very obscure, out-of-the way cottage, which almost nobody in your government knows about, will suit us very well."

We had another problem. Adrienne had reacted to the arrest of Madam Bones by taking her child and vanishing into hiding. She clearly wanted to be alone. Both Hermione and I had sent urgent Stone messages, first asking whether just the two of us could meet with her, and then lowering the stakes to a request that she just talk to us through the Stone. There was no response to us or to the Stone. She could be almost anywhere. She was better equipped than just about anyone from our community to take up residence among the nonmagicals. She also had money. Madam Bones, or rather Dik, had made a point of keeping a hoard of Galleons, English pounds, Euro's, and gold in the townhouse. He admitted as much to us and said that Adrienne knew the hiding spot. He was worried about her, certain that she was terrified and probably feeling shamed that she didn't spot him as a ringer.

We soon came to our final day back home before we needed to return to Asgard for advanced instruction from Odin and Yggdrasil. I had really enjoyed my week with Harry, and he looked healthier and happier after spending half days away from the Ministry to take advantage of my homecoming. Harry had joined Hermione and me in deciding who should accompany us to Asgard for this training. Harry felt strongly that Ellie should participate. I could heartily endorse that addition. Tony's insistence that Captain Davies come with, struck me as less reasonable, but likely unavoidable. The final group also included Cissy, Barb, Cho, Aagog, Catta, Tendra, Cantring, and Pegasus. I didn't want to leave out any of the communities who had participated in our Quest. The precious ancient knowledge we would learn ought not to be hoarded by a few select communities. That raised the issue of another magical community, perhaps somebody from the Bad Dude's community. Harry felt that this gesture could help him a lot down the road. Could I bear the addition? Of course, I could.

I was organising my team and packing what I thought we would need. I wanted a nice, relaxed coasting to our departure. It wasn't to be. Too many persons demanded a quick meeting with Hermione and me. The first was McGonagall. She was desperate to discuss Adrienne. The second was Luna. The third were Susan and Mrs. Bones. I said that Hermione and I would join the Bones' and McGonagall for lunch at Mrs. Bones' cafe. We'd meet with Luna when that meeting was over.

Mrs. Bones had discovered quiche since we last visited her establishment. I had a tomato, cheese, onion, and bacon quiche along with a bowl of spicy pumpkin soup and a couple slices of black rye bread. They were all very tasty. But I should write about the substance of the meeting. McGonagall and the Bones' were concerned about Adrienne. They were still mourning the unexpected second shock of Madam Bones' death. Was there anything we could do to reassure Adrienne that it was safe for her to come out of hiding? I explained my unsuccessful attempts to message her. Then I had an inspiration "perhaps she would feel more comfortable coming to Asgard with us. She could travel separately if that makes her more comfortable. I can make arrangements through Yggdrasil."

McGonagall deemed this 'a most excellent suggestion', insisting that I instantly leave a Stone message for Adrienne. I did so at once. Then I enjoyed two of Mrs. Bone's most excellent chocolate chip cookies with added walnuts. Of course, a small glass of milk was mandatory for my maximum enjoyment. I was savouring the last of my second cookie, when Adrienne message me: **That proposal is most satisfactory. You set up the permissions and I'll be waiting in Yggdrasil's library, when you arrive. It will help to know some new tricks. I don't feel safe here. I also fear that any contacts, even with old friends, will be awkward. I look forward to spending some time on another world. Thank you. Please tell my family and Professor McGonagall that I will be fine and will meet with them when I feel able. This has all been a very great shock to me, almost as bad a shock as Bruce. How could I not know that my lover was a male Vanir? I thought far better of my abilities. I'll see you soon.**

I contacted Luna to let her know that our meeting was finished, and we could me now. Where did she want to meet? I was surprised when she told us to come to the little church outside Hogsmeade. She warned me that she had invited a crowd and that they had a big proposal to present to us. She asked me to convince Harry to bring Dik and Arma to the meeting. I asked for an explanation and received the cryptic answer **Too long and too complicated, but nothing to worry about. Just come and you'll learn all. Please come in your religious robes.**

I was intrigued, as was Hermione. We popped home to change into our robes, then Apparated to the church. I was surprised to see all the seats filled when we entered. Ostara was at the front of the congregation, wearing her priestess robes. She called us to join her in front of the assembly. Margaret was also standing in front, wearing white robes, as was Cissy. "This is the official beginning of the Universal Light Guardian Church," she told the congregation. "I am the convening priestess, but our true leaders will be the Mother and her Muse. They've already agreed to sponsor our little church, but today we launch a larger movement, which extends beyond this church. We welcome a Light Guardian priestess and a Light Guardian priest from Vanaheimer. We hope that they will gain us access to sacred facilities on their former world. King Gobbledygook is willing to make the Sacred Cavern available for services and to lead as many Goblins, who are willing, to join with us, recognising that both our people worshipped the same God. Firenze, as the Keeper of the Universe, trotted up to join us. Cotto, the Messenger Elf, and Elf King also joined us, sporting his full regalia. We all took the pledge of unity and adhering to the Light Guardian's Covenant. I summarised the Covenant, before the pledges were given. As I looked around the church, I saw a lot of friends: my parents, Neville, my brothers - including Percy and Callista, Viktor and Cho, the whole Hogwarts faculty, and the current membership of McGonagall's Sisterhood. The elder Mrs. Longbottom and the even more elderly grandmother who raised Neville, Shacklebolt, Wood, even Draco. Many faces I did not recognise. I was introduced to all of them in what became a very great blur.

I spoke of our encounter with the Light Guardian in the Sacred Chamber; relayed what Odin thought he understood about the creation of the Light Guardian through the merging of a great many spirits of ancient Aesir - a tale confirmed by one of the dark Gods; I told of the reported encounter, deep in space, with a more ancient Creator God. I talked of Yggdrasil, our own Black Stone, and the stored wisdom and hard-won knowledge of our ancient priestesses. Victoria told us about the thinking of the ancient priestesses of our world, both those who followed the nature religion and the Light Guardian priestesses.

Arma explained the subtle ways in which her Order's understanding of the Light Guardian differed from ours. Firenze and Cotto described their Covenant and extra duties and how their people viewed the Light Guardian. King Gobbledygook spoke of the building of the Sacred Cavern and what Goblin lore said about the Light Guardian, by a different name.

Nearly two hours of questions and answers followed, with multiple persons responding based upon the traditions of their communities. Ostara pronounced the session a 'stunning success', welcomed all to return for worship, and gave a final prayer.

I said hello and hugged family members and friends, then it was off home for the four of us. It had been an exceptionally long and eventful day and, although happy, I once again found myself totally beat, but needing to depart early in the morning with my Quest team.

As we were flopping onto our bed, Harry told me that Percy and Callista were once again our ambassadors to Vanaheimer. They decided it best not to reside in Government House. The Ministry purchased a good-sized home a block from the museum as their official residence. They had two aurors, an assistant, and two Elves as their staff. Neither Percy nor Harry felt comfortable with any Vanir on staff or having our delegation living in property controlled by the Vanir government.


	68. Chapter 68

**Chapter 68 – Learning on Asgard**

It was a large group to organise, and we had a lot to pack, but we were soon all inside the Yggdrasil library, which had expanded to accommodate all of us. As promised, we found Adrienne seated in a library chair, drinking tea, and chatting with Odin. I hurried to her side. As I approached her, she set her tea back upon the table and rose to hug me. I whispered in her ear "when you just disappeared, I was REALLY worried about you. When I couldn't contact you, I was close to panic. It's great to see you're okay."

She whispered back "I'm sorry for worrying you. The simple truth is that I felt I had shamed myself. It was bad enough to get looks from other Witches who wondered why I would choose to live with a Witch as old as Madam Bones. Happily, you and your friends weren't among that group. I know McGonagall didn't approve, even as she chased Narcissa harder and harder. I expected so much worse, when it was discovered that I was living with a Vanir Wizard spy, who looked like as old a Witch as Madam Bones, and that I couldn't even spot the substitution. I didn't feel up to facing public scrutiny. I should have trusted you."

We broke our overly long clinch and I was replaced by Hermione. I walked around the table to greet Odin. We exchanged pleasantries, then he quickly called our group to order. "We have much to do and time will pass surprisingly fast. You must learn. Facts can be learned quickly; skills require much repetition. Some of you are new to all of this. You start from scratch. You will all have a chance to be one with the Stone and to enter seid-space, but… those of you who haven't done so already, must hang from Yggdrasil. Don't worry. I explain all. Yggdrasil cares for those who hang from it. I've done it many, many times and for weeks at a time. It is much more pleasant than it sounds. Now I need those who are new, or those who aren't entirely new, but haven't hung, to step forward. We can only hang two of you at a time, really one at a time is ideal.

There were quite a few who had never hung. The American, Megan Bellew, whom I hadn't had a chance to really talk to yet, needed to hang. So did Captain Davies. And Victoria, and Ellie, and Luna, and Ostara, and Adrienne and the Norwegian Prime Minister. This was going to take a while. I suggested that Captain Davies and Ellie be first to hang. As Odin led them away from the group, he shouted back at us over his shoulder "I return shortly and begin instruction."

I took the opportunity to sit with Megan and try to learn more about her - her personal history, her magical talents, her hopes and dreams, how close she was to the Bad Dude, whether or not I could trust her. I learned that she was thirty-nine years old, married, one child - a daughter named Zooey, born in the Hussite religious community in North Carolina, graduated in Education and Psychology from their college in Pennsylvania - the college where the Bad Dude taught Biology. She had a doctorate in Experimental Psychology from Harvard. She had very minor magical skills back home, but thought she was better at magic inside the Hogwarts pyramid. She was highly intuitive. She could sometimes sense people's thoughts and emotions. Some things, which she dreamt, seemed to come true - not always, but often, particularly when her dream was particularly vivid. How often did these vivid dreams happen? Eight times, so far, but four of those times were within the past five years and three of the four had played out in real life, exactly as she had dreamt.

I asked for an example. She had a vivid dream of three girls and two boys applying to the charter high schools, which the college ran, in conjunction with its Psychology and Education departments. Selected professors, such as herself, could involve students from the charter high school in their experimental research - either as interns or as test subjects. The students who were chosen for this function typically served in both capacities prior to graduation and could receive course credit. A major goal was to interest them in pursuing advanced studies in this or a related field. Her emphasis was Parapsychology and whether limited paranormal skills could be learned through intensive practice. So, what happened? "What happened is this group of five students drove to campus together, applied for both the arts and the Science/Technology charter schools and were all accepted. Accepted right on the spot. Just as I dreamt. Admission of that large a group in mid-year is unusual. Getting five acceptances out of five applications is extraordinary, even if we are a little under-enrolled at present. But here is the clincher. In my dream, the principal says to one of the girls 'Oh! I see that you've already been accepted - to whichever of the schools you prefer, whenever you choose to apply. How unusual!' I asked the principal if there was anything at all strange about the interviews of these students. He repeated this quote, word for word. That's the closest and most detailed match to reality I've ever seen in one of my dreams. It's obvious that The Dude, for reasons he chooses not to share, wanted these kids in one of his schools. He is the sponsor of these charter schools. He's not principal of either, but his word is law.

"You should know that most of the college faculty, and I believe all of the charter school faculty, don't know that he is The Bad Dude. Local lore is that The Bad Dude is an arch criminal mastermind, like our own Pennsylvania Dutch-land Doctor Moriarty. The Bad Dude took a special interest in me because of my modest magical abilitiy. He didn't say magic, and I didn't think of it as such, until he told me that we were traveling to England to meet with real Witches and that I would be studying and going on a great adventure with these Witches. He said he looked forward to testing my magical skill upon my return. Up until then, the word we used for my skill was ESP, or extra-sensory perception."

"Don't sell yourself short, prophesy is a very rare and very valuable magical skill. Tell me, if you don't see it as excessive prying, do you find The Dude to be trustworthy and honest?"

"I… think so. He has many secrets. I've never met a man with so many secrets. I've worked with him on paranormal research. He doesn't fudge data. It's a field in which many researchers, if they don't exactly fudge, certainly give the data a nudge in the right direction – not openly cheating, but using an experimental protocol, which is highly subjective and allows them to convince themselves that they have seen what they want to see. To be honest, I chose just about the most disrespected field possible for my research area. I think it might be because I always felt I had strange abilities and felt an urgent need to understand myself – to feel less like a freak. ESP, let alone magic, isn't supposed to be real. I've read the Harry Potter stories. They intrigued me, but I new they were fiction. Now I can tell that you're the real deal. It wouldn't require any data nudging to show that you have magical ability, or ultra-ESP talent."

I created a corporeal Patronus for her amusement. She laughed and followed it around the library.

That was interesting, and I felt I knew her a bit better, but I had little time and needed to be serious. I decided to run my own magical tests. I threw half a sheet of paper from my notebook onto the library desk, handed her one of my spare wands, and asked her to lift the paper, using only my wand and her mind. I told her that I wanted her to raise the paper straight up, without it jerking all about, and then slowly lower it back down to the tabletop. The paper rose about six inches, then she lost control and it drifted away. She did only slightly better on three more. I gave her fifteen minutes practice on the 'Wingardium Leviosa!' spell, including the super-precise pronunciation and wand motion preferred by Hermione. Megan did a little better: ten inches straight up and a slow, straight down lowering, until Megan lost control half-way down.

"That was particularly good. Better than my husband or brother did on their first lesson." I was going to ask her to try again, but Odin returned and wanted to begin our instruction. Before doing so, he dispatched Cho and Cissy to stand the initial protective watch over the two hangers.

"Some of you have seen that Yggdrasil is busy producing a new Black Stone," Odin told his rapt audience. "My part of the job is to keep it supplied with the materials from which it builds the Black Stone. The new Stone is attached to and grows out of Yggdrasil, but when finished it will be separated and Apparated to its permanent location, or more accurately semi-permanent - certainly, it will be there for many thousands of your years, but it is equally certain that the time will come when it must relocate, just as Yggdrasil did. When I showed this process to Ginny and Hermione, I didn't tell them the requirements for the big pile of black sand, which I keep piled against Yggdrasil. That sand is primarily natural sand from the rock you call Basalt. That is a little more than nine-tenths of the mixture. There are a lot of particularly important things added. The first is sand from the stones and crystals of a magical circle, a circle which has operated for a reasonably long period - at least a hundred of your years. Whatever stones and crystals were used in the circle. I prefer Basalt, Quartz, and Calcite. A little bit of powdered Silver, some sand from what you call Lodestone, or even Magnetite. In a pinch, you can use powdered rust. Some small chunks of pure silicon. Shards from regular or purple Diamonds - purple works best. I need a double-handful of tiny purple Diamonds from you, by the way. Then about one-twentieth of the mix is Quartz sand, the finer the better. You get a better stone if you are generous with the proportions of Silicon, Silver, and Diamond. When the new Stone is almost finished, you must add a disembodied, Godly spirit. That will be my final task before leaving you. I will, will the Stone to life, as will Yggdrasil. I only need to inhabit if for less than a year, to leave my imprint."

"Can the recipe be varied?" Hermione asked.

"Don't know. What I tell you is tradition. It is what I learned, from both old Mim and from Yggdrasil. It is possible there are other ways of making a Black Stone, especially for a more powerful God. Yggdrasil had to be made without another Stone to create it and for it to be cleaved from, so there must be another method. If so, it was never taught to me. Perhaps it is beyond Odin's ability, even as I stand before you as almost pure spirit, waiting to float away. What I tell you is all that I have learned in my exceptionally long life. I warn you, as I warned myself: some experiments are too dangerous to conduct. I feared creating an evil Stone if I deviated from the recipe or procedure. There is one last, but crucial component to the formula: that is the blood of the good and brave Witches, who will command the new Stone. This is not an essential ingredient but works best if it is included."

"That's our blood? How much?"

"Yes, that is your contribution. About a half pint each. At least you and Ginny, but best to have a few more. You must convince Cho and Cissy to contribute. You have several months yet."

Oh. The Black Stones were sort of vampires.

Hermione promised "a really big sack of tiny purple Diamonds - I assume you want the size we found inside the corrupted Stones."

"Exactly. Although they can be used to seize control of and corrupt a Stone, they also are essential for normal function. The other essential ingredient, which I will need from you, and quite soon, is a monolith. A monolith broken into two or three pieces will suffice, it needn't be whole. A Black Stone of the size of the one Yggdrasil is trying to birth will require about three monoliths of the size on your world. I already have two but need a third."

We promised to provide it.

"Now, I wish to discuss the process for becoming pure spirit. None of you will need this skill in the near future, it is best to live a long mortal life, learning all one can along the way. Still, it pays to be prepared for the unexpected, or rather for the inevitable expected to arrive an an unexpected and inconvenient time. Get caught by surprise, with insufficient training and readiness, and you miss your chance to become immortal spirit. I am going to teach you how to create a latent, labile free spirit within yourselves. An excellent student can be prepared to release her spirit if she has even half a minute's advance warning of her death. This has nothing to do with evil Horcruxes. It is mind over body. You will be creating a good spirit. The added advantage is that studying this procedure will improve your ability to travel as a spirit linked to your living body and to fight as a spirit warrior as the Questers did. Even those who fought as spirit warrior, they will learn to be better spirit warriors."

The rest of the day was spent on this instruction. Odin said we would practice the technique every day of this month-long training session.

All the hangers hung for one to four days. Captain Davies and Megan hung the longest. The hangers cycled out and into Odin's spirit instruction. After the eleventh day, all who needed to hang had finished hanging. They had piloted the mental crystal room and explored the surface of Asgard, just as I had done, when I first took instruction from Odin. With that out of the way, Odin spent half of every day in seid instruction. Yggdrasil did much of the instruction, and on those days, Odin joined us as a student.

One day of Odin's seid instruction really stood out to me and has stuck in my mind. He was telling us that the best and most effective seid was the least intrusive. One needed to be able to foresee how a very minor change would bend the future in the desired direction. "I can find and fix that which has been changed for the bad. I can do what is brute force seid to shape the future. That is not the work of a true seid-master. You must learn to see where a tiny change will be enough to do the necessary work - a change so small that even the person whose life is most directly affected, won't recognise the change. They could walk past that portion of seid-space and not notice it."

I was thinking that I wasn't good enough for that sort of extremely subtle work in seid-space. I couldn't see that far in the future, just what was, not what possibly might be. I doubted I could match Odin's skill, certainly not Frijjo's or Gna's. I hoped that Hermione or one of my other companions could progress to that exalted level of proficiency.

Odin must have read my thoughts. He looked right at me. "Of course, you will be better than me. You are fully female. When Frijjo first arrived on Asgard, no, after she had spent several months being instructed in seid by Yggdrasil and me - she was less than you are now. Females can develop the full sense of fore sight. It is part logic, part intuition, part empathy, and part being a seer who has prophetic visions in dreams or waking trances. I cannot do all of that. The best I do is to study my enemies and the other major actors in the real world in the part of seid-space where I am working. To know what motivates them, how they think, why they think the way they think, what they value most - all of this permits me to guess how they will act. I think of a possible change in seid-space, and my knowledge of the person becomes a sort of intuition, which allows me to predict with reasonable accuracy how they will respond to a seid-edit I am considering. One key trick I use: if I can figure out what most frustrates a person, what is their strongest unfulfilled desire or the regret of past action they most want to repair - then I can predict their actions and control them with seid edits. I must think as if I am inside their mind. Sometimes it doesn't even have to be their biggest unmet desire, something smaller, something which has troubled them and occupied their mind for many years - that will suffice. It may seem trivial to an outsider, but you must become the insider who sees this goal as important as your target sees it. A male, with as strong a female side as I have, can do this much. Seeing the future is different."

This triggered a thought and I spoke out "you mean like Voldemort. He was frustrated, because he could never get the job as Hogwarts' Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts. You would think at first glance that this should be trivial to a Wizard of his powers, but many think that this was one of the slights which drove him, almost as strongly as his nonmagical father spurning his magical mother. He never satisfied this goal and it was one of the things which pushed him toward the crazy."

I could tell from her expression that Hermione was about to contradict me, or at least to qualify what I had said. This no longer bothered me. I knew how much of a help her interpretation of so many things was to me. She didn't disappoint here. "Yes, many say that Voldemort never became the Defence Against Dark Arts professor, but I think they may be at least partly wrong. I suspect that Voldemort was our actual Dark Arts Professor in my first year. We know that he controlled Quirrell and that Quirrell was eager to do whatever pleased Voldemort. How much that influenced Quirrell's instruction must be at least an open question. Voldemort likely did most of the Dark Arts teaching that year, but perhaps he would still have been somewhat frustrated for not receiving full credit for doing so, not having the honor of sitting on the professor's dais as himself, and not being able to fully teach the course the way he desired. Certainly, he would know how much Dumbledore was stung by what he had done, and that Dumbledore likely gave him credit for achieving that particular objective."

"Although both Dumbledore and Voldemort would see this as secondary to the failure to acquire the Philosopher's Stone."

"I think that is correct, although I don't underestimate his likely glee at Dumbledore's failure to recognise him as his new Dark Arts Professor."

"Very interesting insider British Wizard history, but not what I planned to teach your group today. If I may continue... It is easier to make a change which the universe of seid-space already recognizes as possible. Some females can see some of these possibilities if they spend sufficient time studying and practicing seid. Time and dedication are as important, no more important, than native ability, but you must have ability. Some believe that sensing these preexisting possibilities in the fabric of seid-space is what true prophesying is. I don't disagree."

For the last eleven days of our instruction program, half of every day was spent in seid-space. By agreement with Odin. four of those half-days were to be spent around seid-space concerned with recent British history, focusing upon ourselves, Voldemort, and Tony. Two days were to be spent exploring the seid-space region of recent American history. Two days covered rather old Asgard history, two days tracked the Vanir royals, and one day the Aesir whom Odin had transported from their new world back to Asgard. Odin saved my candy, events pertaining to Britain, for last. He may have feared that we would concoct an emergency forcing our return home as soon as we had found what we most wanted to find and had made the edits most important to ourselves. The other investigations proved far more interesting than I expected.

Odin marched us back in Aesir history to the time of the Great Fire. We once again found Frijjo on fire day. This time we followed her back in time, trying to understand how, and with whose connivance, she had orchestrated this calamity. Since she had not been alive back in that time, her presence consisted entirely of her own and one other's seid edits. Aagog identified the other as Gna.

"I can't just prevent the fire," Odin explained his limits of action "the Great Fire is a major event in Aesir history, known by all. Frijjo went back to an event which she had learned about from our history. She had seen how the effects of the Great Fire rippled through the history of Asgard, changing the very geography and relationship to seid-space of my world. We did the best we could last time. We saved many Aesir and Acromantula, without altering the known course of history. You are correct in thinking that my political goal is to learn why some of the transplanted Aesir are so antagonistic and make a tweak to improve the comity of modern day Asgard. But... in addition to learning which Aesir Frijjo worked with and whether they were among the group I relocated to the new world, I need to know why Frijjo wanted a changed history. The fire still happened; there still would have been no Acromantula; the landscape of Asgard would still have changed... if she had done nothing. The population of Asgard was reduced by her actions. I must know why. That knowledge will tell me what I must do."

We followed Frijjo further back in time to a meeting in a dark corner of a seedy tavern. There were two Aesir at the table... and one poorly disguised Veneran. The Veneran at least was tall and skinny by Veneran standards and had adopted blond hair, the most common coloration among the Aesir. Still, he was obviously Veneran. How could he not have been noticed? Were visitations by Venerans a common event in this tavern?

"Meet back here in no more than two hours," Odin commanded, as he divided our party into three groups. I led the group which followed the Veneran, Hermione's group followed the Aesir, while Odin chose Frijjo for himself. Only Megan and Cissy went with Odin. Odin was a great talent scout and Megan's nascent talents must have impressed him as much as they did me.

I had Barb, Cho, Aagog, Catta, and Pegasus with me. That was more than enough bodies to carefully scour every surface we passed, seeking signs of an edit. We didn't have all that far to travel. Our Veneran, along with a companion, had arrived only a day prior to the meeting with Frijjo. They had Apparated from a local travel ribbon. We tried but were unable to mount that ribbon to continue our chase. Thinking that they had travelled by the Ribbon Between Worlds, I led my team through seid-space to that ribbon. We were able to mount it and walk to what must have been the local travel ribbon, which Frijjo's Veneran friends had used. We walked toward what I felt was the proper spot on Asgard in time and space but found no trace of the Venerans. The pictures, especially this far back in time, give just scattered snapshots of history. We were lucky to have found the meeting on Asgard, although I remembered Yggdrasil telling us that if a location way back in time was edited by a contemporary of ours, the edit and immediate vicinity of seid-space would be as populated with the moving pictures as if that historical event happened in modern time. That sort of made sense to me. I gave up the search, considering myself lucky to lead my party back to the agreed meeting place. Beyond being happy to avoid the embarrassment of having to rejoin the others back at modern Yggdrasil and miss the rest of the day's adventures, I felt pride at my burgeoning seid abilities.

By finding nothing, I had learned something important: since we found no seid edits, the presence of the Venerans was part of unaltered history. Since Frijjo was an ahistorical change agent, the Venerans had come to meet with the two Aesir. That wasn't quite right. One Veneran had that purpose. I needed to go back and follow the second Veneran. This was really getting interesting. Again, we found no edits, but our guy had met with a half dozen spiders. Obviously the Venerans were provocateurs, intent upon sparking a more brutal battle than had actually happened, and it seemed Frijjo was in league with them. What was their shared purpose?

I considered following the spiders but didn't think we had time to do that and meet Odin's schedule. More importantly, I had trouble telling spiders apart, even though I did note some differences - size, colouration, markings on the six spiders at the meeting. Aagog wanted to follow the spiders. I was afraid she wouldn't make it back, but she told me "seid-space is my true home. I find you."

Okay, I gave her my blessing and led the rest of us back to Odin. Odin reported that Frijjo had Apparated to this point, from a point farther back in time and inside the Yggdrasil lake cavern. She had been in that cavern for an hour and used the monolith she carried to force Yggdrasil into a sleep. That proved that she must have rigged the sabotage inside Yggdrasil, or else she couldn't have pulled that off, barring the saboteur instructing her. That would mean either a larger conspiracy or far more action by the Venerans on Asgard than we suspected. Frijjo had Apparated into the cavern and Odin had been unable to learn where she had Apparated from.

Frijjo left one edit, causing the Veneran in the tavern to minimise his disguise, to be clearly identifiable as Veneran. That made no sense to me. Conspirators generally did their best to avoid being identified as conspirators. Agents from another world certainly would try to avoid detection. What possible advantage could Frijjo gain from the tavern owner and patrons knowing that they had been visited from one from another world? Why would the two Aesir not strongly object to being seen meeting with a Veneran?

I reported on the second Veneran, his meeting with the Acromantula, and Aagog's pursuit of the spiders. Odin only grunted in response. As I stared at him, he commented "It makes a warped sort of sense. I begin to form a picture. Doesn't make Frijjo look good. Can't claim doing it to help her poor downtrodden brothers and sisters."

Hermione's team had split, when the Aesir split. Hermione's Aesir simply returned to his home, at least the female who greeted him was extremely warm and friendly to him. No seid edits found. The other team, led by Adrienne, followed the other Aesir back to a large dwelling. They saw the well-dressed individual he met with. A memory was extracted for viewing in the Pensieve. Odin didn't recognise him. We all committed the face to memory in case evidence of him reappeared in our future journeys.

We ate and slept at the tavern. Odin was maximising effective seid-space exploration time by combining two half days: afternoon-morning. Tomorrow afternoon and the following morning would be spent on instruction inside Yggdrasil, with perhaps a brief Odin explanation. He had promised to explain the workings of both his observatory and his forge. He had decided that at this stage in his transition from embodied mortal to free spirit, it was foolish to hold his technological secrets clutched against his breast and have them die with him. We were promised the detailed formula for Odin metal, as well as little tricks needed to make the process work at a much higher success rate. He would explain how the magical barriers, which he used as windows and roof for Valaskjalf, were created, operated, and maintained. We would learn how to operate his telescope, how to make and use his remote-viewing mirrors, and how to recruit and train a raven. He would show us where he mined his sand, Basalts, and Quartz crystals as well as his secret caches of food, metals, crystals, water, and exotic animals... including two dragons whom he, or we, could ride. We hadn't seen any of this yet. They appeared to be candies to keep our noses to the grindstone as he and Yggdrasil taught us. I knew Odin well enough to know that he would deliver on his promises.

The following morning began with worry, as Aagog hadn't returned during the night, nor did she return during breakfast. We packed our gear slowly, hoping to still be in camp when she returned. Odin gave us an hour's grace, but that proved insufficient. We had just a short hop forward in time, then we watched the Odin, who had intruded into that time, shepherding Aesir to their new world. This clearly was history which Odin had actively interfered with, yet there were no edits. There was a major lesson here. I was proud to have grasped that important fact, without anyone mentioning it: apparently one could travel back in time as an actor and alter history, simply by leaving the Ribbon for the real world of that time and doing what you wanted to do as your own agent. Unless one recognised that agent as an out-of-time or out-of-place individual, one wouldn't know that history had been altered. I whispered this startling conclusion into Hermione's ear. Of course, she whispered back "I know, that's kind of scary, isn't it."?

Odin collected a little over two hundred fallen Aesir from the day of the fire. He also collected several dozen who wandered into the area where the fire was started on the following day. This latter group included both Aesir from the tavern, plus the rich guy whom the second Aesir had met with, plus three wives and ten children from their households. Odin noticed his prior error as quickly as we did, having committed those key faces to his memory. "I think I simply need to leave these three characters behind, and all will be well," his hopeful speech lacked conviction. Not having a better approach, this is the one he decided upon. I don't know what he did to this other version of himself, but the Odin we were watching decided that these three were too much weight and bother to transport.

Odin decided to transport their wives and children, noticing, as Hermione and I had, that without them, he would be starting his new Aesir world with no children and only about three dozen Witches. That change made, Odin called it a day and we returned early to Valaskjalf. It was going to be a very strange new world. Aagog rejoined us for lunch in the formal dining room of Valaskjalf.

I was excitedly discussing with Hermione the ramifications of being able to go back in history, step off the Ribbon and become a secret real-time actor, who changed the past, without leaving a trace in seid-space, when I felt Aagog climb my leg and settle upon my lap. "Very bad plot. Those I follow try to persuade my brothers and sisters to assemble and fight the Aesir, when they come with torches to burn forest. Frijjo want big battle, many brothers, and sister's dead. Venerans help her. I tell many not to fight. Leave while have chance. All die if fight. Many listen to Aagog."

We and Odin only knew of a few specific instances where we could place Frijjo at a specific place and time on Vanaheimer. That made researching Odin's concerns extremely difficult. We spent two whole days in the time of Frijjo's youth, before she set out on her Quest. We saw Frijjo and Freyr barely escape a palace invasion, in which both of her parents and several other relations were killed. Her Apparation skills and Freyr's ability as a fighter allowed them to escape. Frijjo had also killed. She was twelve at the time. We saw her brother train her, both in magical and nonmagical fighting skills and in absolute loyalty to himself. We saw her studying seid with the number one priestess in the Village Vana temple. The Village Vana and its temple were wealthier, more powerful, and with far more Vanir present than we had observed in the present day. We heard Freyr describe what she must do on Quest once she arrived on Asgard. We heard him discuss the whole plot with an aide. Freyr planned to conquer Asgard and for his sister to die in that cause.

This section of seid-space was littered with edits and counter-edits. Some of Frijjo's own edits locked the plot in place. We learned that Freyr was a seid-master, then that he really was a Witch and Frijjo's sister disguised as a Wizard.

We followed Frijjo's Quest. It was a very desultory Quest, until the time came for her to play her role in the plot. She gave Odin every reason and chance to kill her, under the most incriminating circumstances, inside his own bedchamber. Odin didn't do it. She seemed frustrated. Then she was prisoner. The Odin of that time clearly knew that she was part of a plot against him. That allowed him to prepare for Freyr's arrival, repulse her, and follow her army back to Vanaheimer. Frijjo was not displeased with the result. She was now a free agent. She switched her allegiance to Odin. Her brief return to Vanaheimer in chains was real, but far less severe than she had described it to us, and we saw her laughing with Odin about it on their return to Asgard. "Our first little shared conspiracy," Odin confided to us. "It was important that her people see her as martyr rather than traitor. She was weak then. They would have found and killed her."

"Why would you have cared?" Hermione asked in a tone which more than suggested that there was no rational reason why he should have cared.

Odin shrugged his massive shoulders, commenting only "I was bewitched. Obvious now, not then."

We spent enough time tracking Frijjo around Vanaheimer to learn that she spent a lot of time there. She made so many trips between Vanaheimer and Asgard that we couldn't track her, until we just checked the places, we knew she hid while there, scanning time from those positions. Apparently, we had become her private army by just stumbling into that role. Her original purpose for us had been distraction and a lure to draw certain persons into the open, where Frijjo or an ally could kill them. She had been surprised that we were of so much use in a battle. This made me feel guilty about my over-willingness to get into fights. I had to confront the possibility that I really enjoyed fighting. Either that, or I wanted to suicide, without having to do the deed myself. We found an earlier Frijjo diary than the one we already had. Hermione made a copy. The diary made clear what we already suspected: Frijjo worked with both Miomor, Gna, and a group of royals opposed to both. She had a plan to incite a fight in which they mainly killed each other, leaving her to fill the void. The revelations in the diary chilled Odin's desire to learn any more about Frijjo and the other Vanir.

It was back to Asgard and the conclusion of our lectures, along with the revelation of his secrets, which Odin had promised us as reward for intense study. The final bit of candy was the exploration of our own seid-space.

We only had a day left to explore our region of seid-space. It was far from my keenest interest, but to satisfy my promise, I made our first objective looking at very recent Hogwarts and Cissy's castle, to pick up Tony's trail. We easily found him at the Hermione Committee meeting in the garden of Cissy's castle. Since Tony was unable to self-Apparate, he was easy to follow and we did so very efficiently. The search began on a strange note. There were edits here, in the castle garden, and they entered with McGonagall. As I was checking that first edit, and as Aagog was identifying it as "Frijjo, I smell her!", I noticed a shadowy figure add something to her drink. Again, there was something odd about the figure, as if I couldn't quite see the face, because it wasn't there. "Dark god," Odin declared. The edit seemed to cause Tony to be on edge. It was beneath trivial: he tripped and almost fell, spilling a bit of his drink upon his pants leg. I hadn't focused upon Tony much during this committee meeting, but I didn't recall seeing the stumble. Did that mean it was added after the meeting was over?

We set this concern aside for a while, to fulfill our commitment to follow Tony back in time. We went back two years. The first edits we found were from the time Tony visited Hogwarts, when the former Lord Montaigne's explosives were hidden on the Gryffindor landing. They were very minor edits, but ones designed to put both Tony and McGonagall a bit on edge. Farther back, to the first bomb Tony had his people dispose for us. An argument with Mrs. Toms over the wisdom of this action. No edits. Catta volunteered, just informed me of her intended action, to hop off the travel Ribbon and observe this meeting. She reported that Mrs. Toms was skeptical of us. We might become tools of subversives or foreign governments; we bore close watching; something seemed too different and unreadable about us. Catta said Tony responded "I like and trust them. They are touchingly naive and open. I agree they won't hesitate to protect their own interests if they decide we aren't friends, but they are young and idealistic and willing to consider being British. I really do like them and I insist that you protect and treat them well. I know you'll spy upon them. I only ask that you not be intrusive and upset them."

I had been leading half the group at this time and concluded that Hermione would agree that I could just skim back on Tony from here. Apparently on a whim, Hermione had suggested splitting the team, with half following Mrs. Toms. I stayed with Tony. We saw him meet with Dad and with Shacklebolt. Mrs. Toms was always his next guest. One edit, again so small it hardly seemed worthy of the effort, served to put Tony on edge during a meeting with Dad. Aagog confirmed that this edit was also down to Frijjo. Back further in time to the days of Scrimgeour and a different Prime Minister, so I left the new guy, back tracking to find Tony in the Prime Minister's office and then moving back in time with him.

We found two edits, both by Frijjo. In the most ancient edit, he got the nod to run for Parliament on the Labour list for Sedgefield. In the original history, the older guy was the pick. It was a minor tweak, which had the older guy and his advisors fail to contact the head of one branch, so they didn't nominate him. Tony was able to sneak in and sell himself to win that branch's nomination. It was now history, but it wasn't history before Frijjo worked her magic. She also made a minor change to allow him to move up to leader of Labour. What was she, a multi-world talent scout? I was seeing what Odin meant about foresight. Way back when he was a political nothing, Frijjo had seen that he could, with a little nudging, become a Prime Minister, who enjoyed young magical Witches - and Harry. This would require future thought.

I led us back to the point where our groups had split, to wait for Hermione. We drank, ate, rested, and debated the significance of what we had seen. I knew it had to be significant that Frijjo didn't limit her seid edits to the lives of magical persons. Knowing how old she was, I had to wonder how much of nonmagical history she had nudged in a direction, which suited her needs. What exactly were those needs? If she wanted to take control of Vanaheimer, or seize control of Asgard, then this certainly was a strange place and time in which to edit seid-space. I couldn't imagine. Really, I still didn't understand how we, who had done our fair share of precipitating her death and the deaths of some of her allies, in any way advanced her interests. How could I possibly guess how she expected Tony's political ascent to accrue to her benefit? If I had foresight, then I probably would be able to understand why Frijjo had taken the time and effort to make these edits. I promised myself that I would work on this – more being one with our Stone and with Yggdrasil, more drugged sleep inside the circle within the Goblin's Sacred Cavern, more sleeping with my wand in my hand and upon my heart, with all my rings on my wand, mining the wisdom of the ancient priestesses – whatever it took to have a vivid vision or two.

Hermione wanted to rest and eat, so I was asked to explain all that we had seen. Her comments were limited to uh-huhs, between bites on her sandwich and swallows of apple cider. When she finished her refreshments, Hermione told me that they hadn't found any edits on Mrs. Tom's path but that the woman was genuinely concerned about us. It would be fair to conclude that she feared magic.

From Cissy's castle, we detoured back to Hogwarts, following McGonagall. We soon found another seemingly infinitesimal edit. A pleasant day was jarred, an hour before she was due at Cissy's, by an argument with Professor Sprout. This argument hadn't happened on the main path of history. "Frijjo, again," was Aagog's assessment.

Let's just keep following McGonagall back through time," Hermione proposed. I readily agreed. We found edits. Not in chronological order, these edits, all by Frijjo caused: a love potion to send McGonagall in hot pursuit of Narcissa and to forget to remove the note from the book Narcissa took home over break, talking Wood into putting Harry on the Quidditch team as a first year, keeping her Sisterhood secret after Voldemort's death, encouraging Adrienne to live with Bruce, and breaking up with Trew to once again chase after Narcissa. That was a lot of edits. I was pleased when we learned that McGonagall's interest in schoolgirl Adrienne was every bit as innocent as she had claimed.

We were out of time. Odin offered another day, but I told him that we would have to wait until our next trip. All of us had already told our families that we were coming home right after lunch. I knew from experience that creating and failing to fulfill such expectations led to bad feelings all around.


	69. Chapter 69

**Chapter 69 – Britain, the Americas, and All the Males Want To Participate**

Harry and Ron met us on the floor of the Hogwarts pyramid. The intensity of their snogs said how much they had missed us and how happy they were to have us back. The bulge in Harry's trousers said he was really, really interested in my return. So why, after breaking from a very long snog, were the first words out of his mouth "sorry, but you have a big meeting almost right away."

I felt upset enough by this demand that I reached down and grabbed the bulge "I sense that the meeting can wait an hour. Don't we have to deal with Little Harry, or should I say REALLY Big Harry?"

"Now you know how really sorry I am about the meeting. I had no choice. Too many demands from important people. I know that you've sent back detailed reports to me, but those demanding the meeting insist upon hearing directly from you and Hermione. They say it is too important to risk my possibly making little errors in my briefings. So... we're off to the Ministry. Please tell Cissy, Cho, Captain Davies, Megan, the Norwegian Prime Minister, Aagog, Catta, Tendra, Cantring, and Pegasus that their presence is also required. We're going to the Ministry. I know Ellie has a lot of research to do, so I avoided including her in the meeting. I convinced the protesters that she'd be able to tell them more, if they left her alone for a week and that it would be cruel to include Adrienne in the meeting. That's it, and I really am sorry."

I was still feeling disappointed enough that I impishly gave another squeeze, demanding "you're the Minister of Magic. Who's in charge here, anyway?"

"Certainly not REALLY Big Harry, and probably not me, either. Believe me, this is not the homecoming I wanted, but the Minister has less power than you think. Less than I once thought."

I relayed the sad news to my team: some could go home now, others had what was likely to be an unpleasant official meeting. I warned Adrienne and Ellie to make a quick escape.

Captain Davies drew me aside to explain "it's the traditional going off to and returning from war, except now we females re the ones going, while our partners stay home. Don't take the meeting personally, this always happens. We just want to go home and collapse with loved ones, but those in power want to honor us and more likely question us, so that they can share in the glory and critique every little decision we made. It makes them feel like they're in charge and what happened happened because of their decisions and will. We professional warriors have no choice but to smile and accept it."

Was I really thought of as a professional warrior? The great fighter who loves to eat - that had been a fun, in-joke between King Goblanze and me. Is that what I had become, even after a sincere determination to become a good and proper Mother and Light Guardian priestess? At least this last trip hadn't required me to kill anyone.

We apparated into the Entry Hall of the Ministry and Harry turned most of the group over to Wood, promising that we would join them "very soon, after an unavoidable smaller meeting". It was Hermione, Captain Davies, Megan, and I who took the lift up to Harry's conference room. We were met by Tony, The Bad Dude, McGonagall, and Shacklebolt. I knew it was going to be a long time until I could be in my bed with Harry.

Tony got right to the point "your report on the Veneran meddling on Asgard was most disturbing. Do we need to take more serious action against them? The other question is this: where is the best home for the new Yggdrasil? We need to decide, before Secretary Afshar gets wind of this."

"America, for certain. My aides have been searching for an appropriate, as yet undiscovered, cavern. I think we've found a spot that is most suitable."

"We are actively working on finding the best possible site, right here in Britain," Tony asserted.

"The Chamber of Secrets seems a very appropriate size, and it is conveniently located at Hogwarts," McGonagall declared.

So this was the game we had returned to. I was very sure that Norway would have some magnificent caves to show us. I promised all that once we had fully settled in at home and dealt with pressing matters, which had accumulated in our absence, that Hermione and I would be more than happy to give a thorough examination to whatever possible sites for Yggdrasil's new offspring any of them wished to nominate. . I told them that this could certainly wait.

"I don't want a foregone conclusion that the site will be Hogwarts' Chamber of Secrets," The Dude complained forcefully.

"It certainly won't be," I promised. "Hogwarts is likely an unworkable location. I don't think you can have a Black Stone and a Yggdrasil that close together. It very probably cannot be anywhere in Britain. It certainly won't be a chamber built and controlled for hundreds of years by Slytherin. We searched, but I can't swear that no more nasty surprises are hidden there. "

"We could relocate the Black Stone," Tony helpfully suggested.

I gave him a look.

"Well just consider it... please. I do understand the problem with Hogwarts and the Chamber of Secrets, but there are likely spots hundreds of miles from Hogwarts.."

"About the Venerans," Hermione spoke up. "I don't see how we can pound them for something their however-many-times-great-greats did quite a few thousand years ago. We already dealt with their recent transgressions. It would just be far too confusing and, frankly, make us seem insane to them, if we suddenly smacked them for something which no living person remembers."

"But... all of you lived it. You experienced it in person. I'm sure you stored memories, which the rest of us can view," Tony objected, his demeanor making clear that he felt we report, he, Harry, and The Dude would decide.

Harry took the middle ground "I agree that the Venerans may be dangerous and bear close watching, but I don't see how we can retaliate against an offense against Asgard from way back in time."

"We don't know that it's from way back in time," I remarked, setting off a fury, which ended when Tony demanded "explain!"

"It's simple. We know that two Venerans tried to change Asgard history, very much to the worse, with millions more deaths. We know this change was attempted many thousands of years ago. We know that, because we were there, off the Ribbon, walking about. We are from this time. The Venerans we saw could have been from this time or from any time. It is less likely that they are from this exact time, because the Ribbon and seid-space are controlled by the spiders and ourselves. They could easily have come from any time up until the battle on the Ribbon. They could have been on Asgard, while their contemporary allies were in Norway. Which suggests, they could have planned something similar in Norway to what they tried to do on Asgard. That makes them even more dangerous that we suspected."

Tony beamed at me. Hermione recognized that I had actually caught something important, which she had somehow missed, by attacking the situation from one, very specific direction.

"So what must we do to be safe?" Harry sounded more worried.

"Odin must keep investigating from his end. We must go back to exploring our portion of seid-space and expand our focus to include Norway, tracing those Venerans back in time to whomever sent them, to see what else that person was up to and exactly what instructions they were given. It will require off-the-Ribbon time, which will be both difficult and viewed as a severe provocation, if we are caught."

"It is likely a risk we, or rather you and your team, must take." Tony was looking right at me as he spoke, then he turned to Captain Davies for support. She nodded assent.

So there it was. I didn't intend to put this demand high on my to-do list. I was willing to investigate in seid-space. I didn't want a repeat of our battle in Hel. There was the danger, the awful environment, and the likely need to do a great deal of killing, with a not small risk of capture. It was easy to see this sparking a war. "I don't see the plus in doing more than investigating from seid-space. I'll think about it again, depending upon what we learn from seid-space." I said this with the confident air of an expert declaring 'case closed', while giving first Tony and then Harry a look, which dared them to challenge my decision. Since I didn't get voiced disagreement, I relented, adding "we have learned skills which will make us much more effective spirit warriors than we were last time we fought outside our bodies. I would want to do a lot of planning and practice specific fighting techniques with Odin and Yggdrasil, before we went to Venera, but if need be, I would be willing for our Quest team to launch a spirit raid on Venera."

Everybody, except McGonagall, beamed at me when I said that.

That was it. Probably a little longer than Harry had expected, but we were off to the larger meeting. It turns out this meeting was to take place in the largest of the courtrooms. The crowd was restive and Wood was very happy to finally see us. Of course we had to go through everything a second time, but there were also many, many questions on every aspect of the reports we had sent home, plus on new topics raised by answers to the initial questions. This was a five hour meeting. What did we learn or decide?

I learned that the Norwegian Prime Minister knew of a perfect location in Norway. It wasn't an unknown cavern, but it was under military control, closed to the general public, and not at all mentioned in public. She'd love a chance to show me the cavern. It was part natural, part excavated, reinforced with steel, an excellent ventilation system, a crystal clear stream with fish. I'd love it. I promised to visit... very soon. Like the others, she saw no need to raise the topic with Secretary Afshar.

The Norwegian Prime Minister earned no points from me, when she enthused about her experiences during our month of education and investigation. She cited this experience as justification for her viewpoint needing to be more strongly credited than Harry's, or Tony's, or The Dude's. Of course this resulted in a clamor from these gentlemen, and others, to be included in the next leg of our training mission. The other's obviously included King Gobbledegook, Cotto, and Firenze, but also Professor Sturluson, whom I didn't even realize had been invited to this session, Viktor, and Mr. Subramanian, who I also hadn't expected to be present. I made no promises about escorting a delegation of male worthies into seid-space, suggesting that their request might more appropriately be addressed to Odin.

Tony renewed his call for action against the Venerans, at least a spying mission of the sort they felt free to send to Earth. He said that our Quest team had discovered evidence of a Veneran attempt to inflict extreme damage upon another world - Asgard. He commented that I had admitted that this assault in seid-space could well have been conducted by modern day Venerans who traveled back in time. "This requires a stern response," he declared.

It seemed that I was being cast as the opponent of taking action for the safety and betterment of our world. Still, I was moved to tell the group "I'd say that this is best handled diplomatically by Percy, who could confront the Venerans with our knowledge of their actions, but it really isn't our position to take the lead on this. The offense was against the Aesir. Odin and the Aesir should decide how best to respond."

This sentiment carried the day and I was instructed to contact Odin, ask how he intended to respond, and promise our approval and support for whatever action he chose to take. I immediately contacted Odin. A minute later, i reported back to the group "Odin has convinced Yggdrasil to cause the Veneran Black Stone to enter a deep sleep and to cut of the Veneran's access to seid-space and the ribbon. He requests that we ask the Acromantula to bar the Venerans, if they somehow find a way to work around Odin's blockade." That was approved and the spiders said they would enforce that exclusion.

I didn't win any points by saying that I felt I had to talk to Odin about waking the Veneran Black Stone. Cutting access to seid-space and the Ribbon was certainly a necessary and wise thing to do, but removing an active Black Stone would only hurt the pyramid priestesses, who were on their side.

Hermione, and then McGonagall and Harry, supported me on this. The group groused for a while, but eventually agreed. Before they could have second thoughts, I reached Odin with my concerns and he restored the Black Stone to wakefulness. I received a verbal message through Yggdrasil.

**Thank you, thank you, thank you. We've been faking it, but that couldn't last long. Once our opponents knew that we no longer had a Stone to command, they would have tried to recapture this pyramid. Their power is waning, but that could reverse quickly. The Supreme Leader is a problem. Now, I hope we can once again hold our own.**


	70. Chapter 70

**Chapter 70 – Where Should Yggdrasil Park Its Offspring**

After three glorious days at home with Harry, I needed to find an Earthly home for the new and improved Yggdrasil. I did this with heavy heart, fearing I was entering upon a path which would lessen my relationship with Yggdrasil. Both Yggdrasil, itself, and Odin had promised me that this wasn't the case. Yggdrasil was depending upon me to keep it safe after Odin departed as spirit. Its offspring was added insurance – Odin's worlds couldn't founder, because both he and Yggdrasil were lost. I had a place on Asgard and easy access to Yggdrasil. I would pick its new home if it needed to flee Asgard. We would always be friends and allies. That was our mutual pledge to each other. But it was important that I find a home for the offspring. How Yggdrasil built it depended upon the specifics of its chosen home.

I must gather a team and we must explore all the nominated sites. I hated this approach. Too many persons, which in my heart of hearts meant anyone other than Hermione, Odin, and myself, was too many persons. Didn't Offspring of Yggdrasil's location need to be the deepest, best protected secret on all of Odin's worlds? Now I was expected to share this secret, and the planning for its implementation, not just with the whole of Hermione's committee, but with the Assembly. I needed to find a way to avoid this. Ideally, I could best maintain the secret if the location were known only to Hermione and me, which meant we needed to find a likely, yet unknown, cavern which met the requirements. We needed to do that with scores of persons, magical and not, looking over our shoulder. I must confer with Hermione.

"I agree it is best that not so many people be read in on the new Yggdrasil. Its location should be secret. Its power will draw powerful groups wanting to steal it. None of our communities is equipped to defend against that. Best that all believe we had to locate it on a secret, uninhabited world. That may be the best thing to do, anyway. I think it will end up on Earth, so we need to be devious; everyone who knows about the new Yggdrasil is encouraged to nominate a site; we carefully investigate each site telling each sponsor that secrecy is paramount because they will need to be able to defend the new Yggdrasil or keep it hidden; we have a very small site-selection team and it is under the Fidelius; we give feedback on each site visit only to the sponsor of that site; in the end we say we couldn't find a suitable site on this world. If we choose a site here, some persons may need to disappear and we may need to talk to their nonmagical government, or at least have a plan to do so at a moment's notice."

"Agreed. Who is the team? I'm thinking Harry and me, you and Ron, and... I guess that's it."

"We'll need technical help. I think Ellie and Adrienne."

"Alright, I'll talk to Harry. We begin the grand tour tomorrow, in the Chamber of Secrets."

"You don't think Adrienne has been a little too unstable of late?" That was Harry's only objection. He suggested Ostara Longbottom as our secret keeper. I enthusiastically agreed. Since I shared some of Harry's uncertainty about Adrienne but suspected that Hermione must have a good reason for thinking we should include her, I reached for her via the Stone and asked if she could meet with us. Meeting turned into sherry drinking and a very mellow several hours, but I did get my answer.

"She has more experience than any of us in working well with ordinary nonmagicals, which I think we might need. She is the best at Witch painting and sculpture, which suggests her view of the caverns we are shown as potential locations may be more insightful than ours. Largely, I think she needs something, obviously important and requiring deep faith in her judgment, to get her back in the game, after Vili and Dik. Consider it a humanitarian investment, which may well bring greater return than you expect. Plus, I hope to plant her near The Dude, as one of his professors. She is great at teaching art and can whip together a very impressive portfolio on a moments notice. In good faith, we should tell The Dude who she is, but he will need to be able to state his reasons for hiring her – his colleagues will surely ask."

Harry and I could both agree with Hermione's thinking. The team was established, or so I thought, and the Fidelius was administered. Shacklebolt convinced Harry that Harry and Ron should not be part of the team: security and their presence would make the team too official and too obviously controlled by our Ministry. They could join us later in the process. I agreed with that logic and informed McGonagall that we were ready to visit the Chamber of Secrets in the morning. McGonagall was delighted. "I know that you had two awfully bad experiences there, but that doesn't necessarily make it a bad choice. We can search more thoroughly for any remaining Slytherin traps. If they still exist, Yggdrasil should be a help in finding and defeating them. That is a great service you could do for Hogwarts students."

As a cavern it was fine, certainly large enough. If Yggdrasil wanted a stream and lake, we could readily engineer that. In addition to the proximity to our Black Stone, I also was concerned with the multiple entrances and the fact that it already was a well-known cavern. We made all the appropriate noises, listing some concerns, ticking off the pluses, warning that secrecy was an issue and that revelation that the Chamber of Secrets might house the new and improved Yggdrasil could lead to future attacks upon Hogwarts.

In reply to McGonagall's dejected "it's not going to be your choice, is it?" I replied in exasperation "How could I possibly know the answer to that, this is the first possible site we have looked at."

Our next stop was Norway: a nice cavern, known to too many members of the Norwegian government, sponsored by a woman who was really starting to get on my nerves. Mr. Subramanian had suggested that the exceptionally fine circle we had repaired for his community might well be joined by the new Yggdrasil. The cavern was large and could be made bigger. It was well hidden, even other members of the Indian magical community, apart from his closest family members, knew nothing of its existence. It was far enough away from the Black Stone beneath Hogwarts. He was certain that he and his community would be easier to work with than most other magical communities, hinting rather directly that I might find The Bad Dude difficult to work with, if he had custody of the most powerful magical intelligence in the known universe. He had a point and I pointedly agreed with him, allowing my mild irritation at The Dude to spill out. I assured him that his cavern was in the running. He promised complete secrecy - even his family would not know of our visit.

It was off to America. This was the most essential visit, but I had to delay it while our team acquired appropriate passports and papers, plane tickets, and reservations to establish that we were a group of British university students on tour with our favourite young professor. Of course, we had an auror Apparate us to America. Both travelling on airplanes and passing through airport security and passport control are scary. I pilot my broom myself. Why would I trust a nonmagical to safely pilot me across an ocean? A group of young British government workers and two aurors flew over as themselves, and would hand over their stamped passports to us. We would be on the Juice for this part of our inspection tour. I mentioned that we had passports as ourselves. This was in case we had to be off the Juice for some reason. An excess of precautions never hurts, and it makes husbands a lot more comfortable with the level of risk taken. Getting snatched up by or attracting serious attention from the American authorities, who might still be searching for Witches, was a very real risk.

We waited in a large house. I was as mentally uncomfortable as I always am when I don't know where I am. I explained my unease to the two aurors who had transported us here. They said, 'better that you don't know - security."

Barb, who had travelled with us as personal security, advised these aurors "I suggest you tell her what she needs to know. She feels uncomfortable when she doesn't know her location. China lost a modern magical circle because of that." She stared at the lead auror, until he got out a map and showed us our location, the location of the airport where the other aurors whose, identities we would assume, were going to arrive, as well as the location of our destination: Hussite College. I thanked the auror, admitting "that does make me feel more secure."

"I don't know why," he scoffed at me. "You've just arrived here by side-Apparation. You couldn't Apparate back here and I doubt you could Apparate anywhere from here."

As unhappy as I was with his dismissive attitude, I replied in as sweet a voice as I could muster "then you'd be wrong on both counts. I could Apparate to Hogwarts and return." His look said 'yes, of course you can, little Witch.'

Barb grabbed his shirt and led him to the next room. I could overhear her telling him, "You do know who she is don't you? She's not just the Minister's wife, she is the Mother of the Future. She has been trained by Gods and has successfully led armies into battle. You mess with her at your own peril." He didn't say anything when he returned, but he did keep his distance. I hadn't seen him before and messaged Shacklebolt, inquiring who he was and why he would give me such attitude."

**You've not met him, because he's been on overseas assignment in America, since right after I became Minister. I vetted him myself. Yes, I know I made some mistakes in that regard, but I trust Geoffrey. He's coming home with the travellers your group is replacing. His face has become too familiar over there. I told him that your group were Juiced junior magical engineers sent to check on magic protections for the American Wizards. I'm sure he believes he outranks you because I told him that you did. I'll re-vet him after he returns. I won't feel insulted if you try a little Legilimency. Do play nicely.**

While we waited for the travellers to arrive from the airport, Hermione and I stayed on guard and tried a little Legilimency on Geoffrey. He had a very readable mind. He was debating with himself, whether Shacklebolt or Barb had lied about my identity. Since I looked like me and hadn't acted like a junior magical engineer, he was soon struggling to figure out why Shacklebolt had lied. 'Is the Director on to me? Does he know that The Dude pays me? I haven't even given The Dude any secret information. I don't have shopkeepers to press for gifts here. I made as much on the side when I was assigned to Diagon Alley. Many have done as bad or worse. Should I try to flee? It might be a serious mistake to just return to the Director's little web.'

I pulled one of Odin's anti-Apparation devices from my bag, turned it on, and placed it on the floor beside myself. Odin had been correct, when he told me that this gift would be particularly useful to me. It was much easier to use than the auror corps three-device anti-Apparation system, which required putting the suspect in a triangle of the devices.

"Too late. You can't Apparate away." I pointed at the device. "You may not have done anything terribly awful or traitorous, but I just can't trust you. Stop? Move your hand any closer to your wand and you're dead."

Barb and the other auror were studying us, while Hermione and Adrienne were ready to back my play.

"Yes, Legilimency is one of my skills. You just told me that you work for The Dude. What have you told him? What have you done for him? Talk!"

"I am very adept at transforming scoundrels into pillars of salt," Adrienne warned, casually pointing her wand at him. "We all know that you've tried and failed to Apparate. We've got you."

I messaged Shacklebolt, asking what in Hell he had dropped me into without warning. He was chagrined to learn that The Dude owned his agent.

"What haven't you communicated back to Director Shacklebolt, which you should have? Ah, that's it. I can tell," I triumphantly confronted him. "I've told the Director that The Bad Dude pays you and owns you. I can put in a good word or a bad word, on your behalf. So, talk to us. Right now! Are we Apparating into a trap at the college?"

"I don't think so. The Dude says that he likes you and means you no harm. He just wants you to give him the contract. I might have underestimated the number of allies the Dude has working for him in my reports to the Director. There is nothing else of any importance, that I left out. Honest. I wouldn't lie to you."

"It's good that you realise how futile that is. We are also truth-tellers. I will tell the Director if you jeopardise our assignment by lying to us."

I could feel him trying to probe my mind and sent a jolt his way. He collapsed and rolled on the floor, grabbing his head.

"Don't try that again!"

"Okay, okay. I had to try. You're too mysterious and I need to know how much you know about me."

"That's easy. I'm going to know everything, because either you are going to tell me, or we are going to pry it out of your mind. That can hurt."

We were still listening to him spill his guts when those whom we would replace arrived. We continued to question Geoffrey, while the Polyjuice took effect. He didn't know that much of any importance. The Dude feared the nonmagical government. He had bought off some officials. Nobody suspected he had any interest in magic or even as little magical ability as he had. We got a list of all The Dude's allies, whom Geoffrey had either met or heard others speak of. The Dude never dropped such information. He was too smart for that. We got the names of several local officials who were beholden to The Dude. The Dude had learned a lot of background information about many of us from Geoffrey. It would not be a good thing if the non-magical government of the United States questioned The Dude. Harry would somehow have to protect him. I told Geoffrey that I didn't think he was all that bad, but that he couldn't accompany us to the college. It would be straight back to Shacklebolt. I would message the Director that we had already questioned him and found that he had not done tremendous damage, "Now you sleep. Off!"

"I think it best if we drive. The Hogwarts course isn't enough to make me feel comfortable doing that, but one of you drove from the airport. You'll have to be him." I jerked my thumb toward the inert prisoner leaning against the wall.

Hermione harvested a, perhaps overly generous, hank of hair from the prisoner and put it and a good slug of Polyjuice into one of the larger sample bottles she always carried with her. As the Polyjuice fizzed around the hair, we turned out our prisoner's pockets. A wallet with driver's license and identification, plus credit cards and a little money, a ring of keys and a wad of cash in a side pocket, filthy nasal tissues and a folded piece of paper with two names and addresses, which I committed to memory, and a cellphone. Hermione took a little piece of plastic from its insides and vanished the rest of the phone. She placed her sample into a small bottle and gave it to one of the aurors who would be returning home.

"The rest of you should return to the Ministry with the prisoner. I've messaged Harry and Director Shacklebolt to expect you. Take this paper with you – it has all of The Dudes associates. Also take this bottle. The Director will know what to do with it."

They laid hands on the prisoner and vanished with a soft bang. The new addition to our team, an auror named Caroline, drank the Polyjuice. A half hour to fully change bodies and to walk around getting used to her new self, and we were on the road. The Turnpike and I-78 seemed the most direct route to the vicinity of the college, but Hermione rejected that "we have Geoffrey's map. Best to stick to smaller roads and avoid surveillance cameras."

That's what we did. Including a wrong turn, we were at the college in three hours. It was inside a city, so we parked on the street. Hermione went into the nearest college building to inquire about the location of the biology department. We were on the old campus, not where we wanted to be. The sciences were on the new campus. Hermione memorised the directions and guided our driver right to the building.

When we finally reached The Dude's office, his first words were "you're late. You should have done the sensible thing and had Megan or Geoffrey bring you here. Geoffrey could have Apparated you directly to my office."

He did not seem at all surprised that we didn't look like ourselves. Geoffrey must have alerted him to the Polyjuice part of our plan - likely to our entire plan, and who knew what else. I just replied "I know that Geoffrey is your spy. He's been arrested and sent back to the Ministry. We didn't want a large group for inspection of the likely caverns, so we didn't bring Megan."

"I think it unfair to call Geoffrey a spy. We needed to and did work closely together. I needed some understanding of your community, beyond what little was revealed to the ICW. You are a quite different government for British Wizards, and I needed to know how much I could afford to trust you. My community is vulnerable, and I debate how thoroughly we must hide. We are more numerous than British Wizards, but far less magical, so far less able to protect ourselves. I assure you: Geoffrey did not convey any deep secrets to me, nor did I expect or ask him to do so. That obviously would have been counter-productive, as apparently even our rather loose cooperation has become. It can be expensive living here and supporting a family back in England. Geoffrey was short of cash. I helped him out. He felt beholden. It's really your husband's fault, it was impossible for Geoffrey and is family to survive, without an extra travel stipend. You should mention that to Harry. We can talk this out at length later. Is that with you or with your husband? Now, as late as you are, I think we must be off to the cavern right away. Since I can't Apparate and none of you have been there, we will have to travel the nonmagical way. You have a vehicle, can you fit an added body?"

The Dude led us to what he described as "one of the very old buildings" - the cornerstone said 1758, not so old by Hogwarts standards, or British standards in general.

"You are supposed to be the crew I hired to repair mortar and fix a leak in the basement wall." Sure enough, we were led into the basement, really, I'd call it a sub-basement, and then to a corner of the room. Sure enough, the wall was damp, and the floor showed water spotting. The floor was rough concrete, and it was patched in this corner.

"I'm guessing this leads to the cavern?"

"Yes, or at least it leads to the entrance to the cavern. I found an old church record that referenced it. Its existence was rumoured by some on the Executive Council of the Order, although most discounted it. So much is lost over so many years. It had been a place of emergency refuge once upon a time. The Order created stairs, did some leveling and enlarging, created storage space at some elevation above the flood level. The flood level is a little higher than that now, but the cavern never completely floods. I found it ten years ago. I didn't admit that to the Assembly. It would have started them thinking, more than either of us want them to. I am driven by my curiosities and the story of the cavern intrigued me and then I found the written account and... I don't think anybody had visited the cavern, since perhaps 1820. As I said, information is lost over time. I am the only living soul who has seen the cavern, or even knows where it is or how to access it. Only a few high-ranking members of the Order think the cavern actually exists and all but one lack conviction in this belief."

"So, we have to break through the floor?"

"And the lower part of this stone wall... right here, but only if you can do it fairly quietly. I thought you had magical skills that could make a hole and fill it in and disguise it a lot easier and better than I can. I got a pickup truck with bricks, sand, stone, and mortar that you can use. Also chisels, little hammers, and big hammers... I think it best if you don't use the big hammers if that's at all possible. I also have a lot of big flashlights, and silicone caulk and waterproofing, and hydraulic cement."

"Okay, I'm sure that's all good. The first thing is to fetch the truck and supplies, then we can get to work. If you have enough.

When we returned to the main floor, there was an officious looking person there, who hadn't been present when we arrived. The Dude new him. "Hi Tom. This is the repair crew I told you about. We're just off to pick up the supply truck. We'll be back in fifteen minutes. Please keep people from going into the basement or sub-basement. It will be dangerous. We'll be wearing respirators and protective suits - lots of mineral dust. Asbestosis and silicosis, you know. I'll post a warning sign, but that's like candy to some of the adventurous students. I got this crew cheap, so there's a good tip in this for you if you do your job conscientiously, as in here the whole time - several hours I expect."

Apparently, The Dude paid well because Tom was grinning. When we returned, we were masked and had hair covering and coveralls. We wore work boots. We made three trips carrying tools and some bricks and mortar. We'd return for more bricks.

"Okay, I'm starting the clock. I want us out of here in four hours. This whole area, where the floor is patched, and this section of stone need to go."

"I don't feel comfortable removing that wide a section of stone," Hermione warned. "We might bring down the whole building. No wider than needed to fit in side-ways. At least we're all reasonably thin. Even with that, we'll need to add some magical support to the stones above the ones we remove. It wouldn't hurt to add a little steel framing."

A few spells, most of them to organise the debris and stones into piles, and we had an opening, with the adjacent stones cut off squarely, to form a perfectly smooth rectangular opening. Adrienne quickly Witch sculpted a steel support frame, which fit snugly, including having its top horizontal section extending an inch beyond the vertical rods to fit an inch into the surrounding stone. "Great job!" I congratulated both Hermione and Adrienne.

We picked up our lights and followed The Dude down the steep stairs. Down about fifteen feet to what could have been a large root cellar, except the floor was concrete. The Dude led us to the opposite end. He pointed to a spot in the middle of the wall. Hermione rubbed the area with her bare hand, then rubbed the limestone a yard away. "Plaster cement disguised to look like limestone." She raised her wand and blasted away the obstruction. We were in a sharply down-sloping rock tunnel. Someone had cut long steps into the floor and installed a metal railing, so we were able to traverse this section. The tunnel disgorged into a very shallow cavern, only ten feet in depth, but equally tall and eight feet wide.

"Fake wall," The Dude commented, tapping the wall straight ahead of us. "You can easily magic your way through it, but don't walk through the hole too fast. We are near the top of the cavern - just a little landing, then stone stairs down to the cavern floor."

We exploded our way through the thin barrier and, lights shining in front of us, slowly shuffled our way onto the landing. The air was cool and damp, with the odour of mould. The light from our torches vanished into the distance. With our whole team squeezed onto the small landing, and grasping the railing for security, we lobbed light from our wands as far as we could in every direction. The newly illuminated stairs hugged the wall of the cavern and went down about fifteen feet and sideways perhaps twenty feet - not only steep, but they looked moist and slick. Thankfully, there was a metal railing on the open side of the stairs. Still, I groped my way down very slowly, pausing to lob fresh balls of light, so that I didn't step wrongly and fall to my death. We walked into what was obviously a large and rather wet cavern.

As with the Yggdrasil cavern, a tiny steam flowed through cracks in this wall, just above the floor level. That had made the bottom step especially treacherous. I walked along the stream, with Hermione right behind me. The stream quickly turned into a narrow lake on the cavern floor. It was only eight feet across here. We walked along the lake, hugging its shore. The width of both shore and lake widened, as we continued walking. At its widest point, this shore was fifteen feet wide, with the lake seeming a little wider. The shore shrunk and the lake widened as we continued walking. At the maximum, almost thirty-foot, width of the lake we stopped to measure its depth, at Hermione's urging. A stick held as far out as I could manage, showed the lake was only three feet deep at a little over three feet from the shore. Hermione got her plumb bob on a string from her bag and tied it to my stick. I was amazed that she had made it safely down all those stairs carrying the bag. I had left mine behind, thinking it extremely hazardous to carry it. Hermione was more athletic than I credited her. Levitation spells got the stick up to the ceiling of the cavern, then out to the middle of the lake and down. Hermione was concentrating furiously. I knew she was sensing the difficulty in keeping the stick in position, to determine when the bob bottomed out.

"Okay, that's bottom." She retrieved her equipment. I saw that she had made an improvement. There was a clear color change between the in-the-water and out-of-the water parts of the string. "Eight feet, that's a little deeper than I expected. This cavern just might work."

We walked on to the end of the cavern. This one lacked the steep waterfall of the Yggdrasil cavern, but the water did fall a couple feet at the narrowest end and out a hole. By counting my strides, I concluded that the cavern was a little over a hundred yards long. As we retraced our steps, I checked for a big enough area for Kid of Yggdrasil. The widest part of the cavern, with the widest shore, extended about fifty feet. That was certainly large enough. Time to return to the surface. I wanted to inspect the cavern walls more closely, as we climbed the stairs, to determine if the cavern had ever fully flooded. It hadn't, but the water had come to within just a little more than a foot from the ceiling.

I congratulated The Dude "We'll have to discuss this amongst ourselves and continue the search, for subterfuge, but I think we have a winner. Obviously, this must stay secret and you must hide any excitement you feel."

"Of course, don't worry, I'm practiced at hiding a lot of things, not the least being my emotions."

I didn't doubt that for a second.

We created magical barriers, where The Dude had built physical ones. We built a little brick wall around the entrance, disguised, if anyone cut through it, to look as if it hid a drainage channel and kept the rest of the basement dry. We rigged this wall to open like the brick wall into Diagon Alley. We really had become extremely adept magical engineers.

With all the magical engineering work, it was six in the morning by the time we carried our equipment to the main door of the building. I was impressed, Tom was still there and still alert.

"Thanks Tom, most appreciated and I apologise that it took us so long. We had to bore a drainage channel and sump, install a sump pump, and wall off the whole area to make sure the basement stays dry. I'm very sure we fixed the water problem." As he said that, he kept peeling off twenty-dollar bills, at least fifteen of them. Tom looked pleased.

"If you have time, before returning home, I'd like to show you the campus and we can get breakfast in town. Anything you'd like to see?"

"Yes, this may sound odd, but I understand that five local students were recently admitted to your charter schools as a group, in the middle of the school year. Hermione and I would like to meet them."

"Yeesss... that can probably be arranged - at least to meet the four who attend the Performing Arts School. It might seem overly odd to pull out all five at the same time. I'll make a phone call, then I'm sure you can meet with them right after breakfast. In fact, perhaps they would like to join us for breakfast. I must limit this meeting to Ginny and Hermione. The rest of you can explore the campus and meet back at my office in two hours... of course Barb has to come with Ginny and Hermione."

He stepped away from us to make a cellphone call. It was a long call. When he returned, he commented "I am reminded that I failed to convey certain pre-conditions to you. First, the students will identify only by their first names. You should do the same. I know you test everyone you meet, or so it seems to me, for slight magical ability. Don't do that! These students may have minor magical ability, in fact I strongly suspect that they do and are unaware of the extent of their talents. It is not necessarily magical skill as you would recognize it. I doubt they would pass your 'lift the sheet of paper' test. There is to be no mention of magic, or even ESP, during breakfast. Get to know the students, perhaps even talk about their backgrounds, why they are at my charter school, and their major interests and goals in life. That will give plenty of conversation to fill breakfast and give you some insight into these students. I admit, I have taken a special interest in them - they are bright, they are idealistic, moral, and brave; they have formed a tight-knit group; they have at least inklings of what might be termed para-normal skills. As a researcher, they pique my interest. Is that enough background. Do you agree to these conditions?"

Of course, I agreed. I was too intrigued to reject any reasonable conditions. After all, these students were the subject of Megan Bellew's vision. The Dude had already confirmed a good chunk of that vision.

We drove to what The Dude described as "the best breakfast diner within an hour's drive, and it's just a few blocks away."

It must be good; we would have to stand in a long line to get in. The sign on the side of the building read simply 'Jimmy's'. Turns out we didn't have to wait in line. Someone from the restaurant came outside and informed The Dude that his reservation was ready. We were led through the main dining room, into a small private room. When we were seated, The Dude told me "I strongly recommend the French toast, with strawberries, bananas, and whipped cream. Also, a word to the wise, the coffee is excellent, the tea is not."

"I'll happily try that. When you mentioned conditions for this meeting, it reminded me that I had forgotten to mention what will surely be a major condition for location Kid of Yggdrasil here. We need to have on-site representatives here at your college and in your community. I have in mind a member of our Quest team who may well be willing to come to the college or charter high school as an art professor. She sculpts and paints, has taught at Hogwarts, and has exhibited and sold her work in the nonmagical world. I have other candidates in mind but have to talk to them and to Harry."

"Okay, I'd be happy to have Adrienne on our faculty for a year. She can also help in my experiments. Beyond her..."

We were interrupted by the arrival of the students.

"Charity, Ginny, Sarah, and Julio," I'd like you to meet some visitors from England: Ginny, Hermione, and Barb. I think it best to stick to first names for now. They have an interest in our charter school and I thought it helpful if they could talk to four very new students."

"Harry Potter names," Sarah burst out. "Were your parents' big fans."

"Hermione is a more common English name. I was born before the Potter books were written. I've read the books, of course. Barb isn't a Harry Potter name."

"She's Ginny and Hermione's auror protector who travels just about everywhere with them, including Questing. I've read the Hemerocallis fan fic. There are serious rumours that it, as well as the Potter books, are largely factually correct. I have an intuition about the three of you... I don't know exactly what, but I associate you with Harry Potter."

Oh, dear Light Guardian, exactly what had we walked into. We should have used made up names. I don't know what I should have said. What I said was "why did you come to the charter school, especially in mid-year, and as a group?"

Long answer from all four of them, interspersed with wonderful French Toast and six strips of American bacon. It boiled down to a lot of trouble in their original public school. Their guidance counselor murdered inside her school office, a guilty school administration which had come to hate them as busybody interlopers, gangs, especially gang violence against Sarah - they knew they were targets and just didn't feel safe. Charity was a member of the Hussite church and the Hussite college ran the charter schools, so why not? Except for Julio who wanted to be both an artist and dancer, none of the others expected to be arts majors in college or to work in the field. They had signed up for drama, because that was the only talent they could fake, and they were desperate to protect Sarah and get out of their high school.

At this point The Dude shrugged his shoulders "students come to us for social as well as artistic reasons. We provide a very good academic education, in addition to the arts. Most of all, we provide a safe learning environment for those who were bullied in their regular schools. That's extremely important. You can't possibly learn to you full capacity if you don't feel safe. I am always happy to add such academically strong students as these. It is fine to excel in the performing arts, but our charter might be revoked if we don't keep our English and math test scores up. These four will score at the top of their class."

We returned to The Dude's office, then back to Hogwarts. Harry and Shacklebolt were waiting for us, having been alerted by both Barb and me, minutes before we Apparated home.

"Geoffrey is sorry. He was used to a certain level of graft," Shacklebolt reported. "He's no longer an auror, in fact he's a Gringotts resident, until we figure out what to do with him. I don't want him spilling his guts to a Muggle, um British, newspaper. I think it may come down to Obliviation of what he knows, which includes your evaluating Hussite College as the site for the new Yggdrasil, although he doesn't have a fully-formed conception of that. Your report said you're ninety percent sure that the college will be the site."

"Maybe even a little surer than that," Hermione admitted. "We are going to visit Adrienne and see if she is willing to teach at the Arts Charter High School for a year. I'm sure the two of you agree with us that we need on-site representation if new Yggdrasil is going to reside there. Magic will become very much stronger there since Yggdrasil has quite powerful magical circles inside it and the new Yggdrasil will be even stronger. The Dude has been collecting youngsters with weak magical talent. They will blossom once new Yggdrasil is up and running. We must learn all we can about the student body and that part of America. You should have seen the protections The Dude put in place to keep the cavern secret. It's not performing any secret function today, but The Dude has been preparing for something for decades. He plays the exceptionally long game and is someone we need to keep a close eye on. Believe me, we will have ravens working that area."

"I agree," Harry looked guilty. "I guess I involved The Dude in way too much of our business and allowed him to learn way too many secrets. You were right, when you complained that I brought too many outsiders to hear your Quest debriefings. That was a serious error, and I have no idea how to correct it. The Norwegian Prime Minister and Mrs. Toms also frighten me."

Shacklebolt visibly shuddered.

"Tomorrow we must resume exploring other candidate caverns, including off-world. The more sites we are known to have visited, the falser trails we leave. You can help us think of a way to sell some of the false leads, without putting innocent local communities in danger."

My husband promised to give that intense thought.

Including visiting four other worlds, including Ve's dead world, Asgard, Centaur world, and a dead world we had no prior knowledge of, my team visited a dozen more potential sites on our own world, from the far north of Canada to deep inside Antarctica. Two progress reports were made to Hermione's Committee and one to the Assembly. We didn't give any more specific location for any of the candidate sites than Canada or United States or outside this world. Whenever anybody objected, we used the magic word: security. I admitted that none of the sites were as desirable as I had hoped to find. We might have to expand our search. We still had a few months left to decide upon a location. Of course, Hermione and I were already totally convinced that the Hussite College site was as good as we could find, especially since Adrienne jumped at the chance to join the college and high school faculties. She was delighted by the quality of the educational daycare program run by the college. What's more, The Dude had told her that, given her special circumstances, of course tuition would be free. That made me feel a little uneasy.


	71. Chapter 71

**Chapter 71 – Elysium**

Odin suggested that we spend some time in Elysium, prior to venturing back into seid-space to finish our advanced training. He visited Hogwarts to tell us this. We could all leave within the week if that suited. Since he was on Earth, he wanted to visit the home I had selected for Child of Yggdrasil. I told him that this was fine, but that he couldn't mention this to anyone, other than those who made the trip to Hussite College. It made sense to add Megan to the team. She would be teaching at the college. Harry, Ron, and Neville made sense. Of course, Adrienne, Barb and Ellie joined us again. Because Ron was with us, Harry was going to take only Wood as his aide and Auror protection, but Shacklebolt insisted upon including a young protection auror, Rodney. "Rodney will be staying there. He will buy a house or rent an apartment near the college. I don't care if The Dude knows he's one of ours, Rodney is incorruptible. I've got another hidden agent in place. I've worked on that one for a while, not fully trusting Geoffrey. I'd sooner not say anything more than that right now, not knowing how good a Legilimens The Dude might have. Rodney will help the other aurors set up magical lighting in the cavern. I've had him practicing that the past week."

We made a one-step Apparate directly into the Cavern, traveling in pairs. It went sort-of well. Adrienne landed herself and Ron in the lake, but neither was injured, there being no carnivorous fish in this lake. I focused upon Odin. I wanted to learn how he would go about evaluating this site. Really, I wanted to learn what Hermione and I might have failed to check or if we had misjudged an attribute of this cave. I begged Odin for a running commentary of his thoughts, so that I could learn as much as possible.

"Of course. That's a skill I should have learned by now. This cavern is plenty big enough. It has a little lake and a slow stream. I know that Yggdrasil likes water at its waist. I don't know why for sure. Cavern has never fully flooded. That is safety for humans - almost completely flooded, not super good, but not disqualifying." He drew a comatose rat from his pocket, revived it, and tossed it into the lake. We watched the rat swim to shore. "Don't worry, it's a male rat. Also don't worry, no carnivorous fish in lake. This is a Limestone cave. This is less than perfect, but not disqualifying - the little stream will continue to eat away at the rock. Is this an area with earthquakes or volcanoes?"

"I checked that. No. At least close to as low an earthquake risk as one is likely to find on this world." Of course, Hermione had already researched this. "Zero risk would also mean the core of our world had cooled too much for Yggdrasil's offspring to thrive here."

Odin nodded. "That is good – there are no earthquakes on Asgard, but our world is only a few million years from no longer being able to nourish Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil will insert its larger clone into the bedrock. We must learn how far down that is. That means we must drill hole through Limestone. That is your job. That can't disqualify the site, unless you find something truly horrendous, but Yggdrasil must know how tall to grow its clone. New Yggdrasil will grow downward if you feed it. You told me that The Dude thinks nobody but himself know the cavern is here. That is good, if you can trust him. I know you don't want to hear this, but it is also good if you don't trust him, but can kill him, or even Obliviate him, although that isn't so sure a thing. If you put the clone here, you are bound to The Dude until you kill or Obliviate him. You must think hard on that. Now, show me where those stairs lead."

Telling the others, we'd be right back, Hermione and I led Odin all the way up to the lobby of the building and out the door. Odin shielded us with a Godly 'Ignore' spell. We did a short stroll around the South Campus of Hussite College and the city's historic district. "This will do; less people is better. Show me how you hid the path."

Back into the building, tap the bricks. push through the magical barrier posing as stone wall, down the stairs, across the 'root cellar' and through the other faux-stone wall. "This is fine in a pinch. You do exceptionally good magical engineering. You must not allow your allies to travel this path, except in emergency. You said that The Dude can't Apparate. This will be a problem if he is determined to visit Yggdrasil's clone. He must agree to request side-Apparate, or this won't work, unless you Obliviate or kill him."

"You are certainly in a murderous frame of mind! We can talk to him. I hate to leave part of the group behind, but we shouldn't all visit The Dude. Perhaps the others can start planning where and how to drill, or magic our way through the limestone, while we visit The Dude? It will be tough to keep that tight a control on curses."

Adrienne had to talk to The Dude. So did Harry. So, five of us, including Odin, made the trip. I didn't want to Apparate and be seen when we suddenly appeared on the North Campus. It is only a mile away and the weather was pleasant, so we walked. Everyone was wise enough not to talk about anything that didn't sound touristy, unless we were clearly alone. We passed normal people doing their normal things along the main street, but any of them could be an actual spy or report what they overheard to someone else, who would become curious about us. "No real names," I cautioned. "Think of a name for yourself right now. The students we met read the Harry Potter books and the Hemerocallis fan fic. They instantly glommed onto 'Hermione', 'Ginny', and even 'Barb'. Adrienne is going to need a new art portfolio and it will have to be signed with whatever name she chooses today."

"I know that. I met The Dude through the Quest meetings and he already was selling me on the idea of coming to teach for him. It seemed a good hiding spot for me. I've been working on some paintings and sculptures. He thinks I need to do a small new-faculty-member exhibition to establish my bona fides. I am using my time in Germany, I was an instructor for a semester, as the key, and fully verifiable, part of my resume. Also, my art school days in London. Trust me, nothing that points to Hogwarts or magic in my new..." pedestrians approached so she stopped talking. When they were well past, she concluded "so please meet Anita Clyde - lame, but some of the work I want to use was sign 'A.C'. That was mainly non-magic-assisted work."

We lapsed into silence as we entered the campus. Really bad luck, Sarah and Charity were approaching us. They passed us, then Sarah walked a U to follow us and to draw astride. "Excuse me, and please don't think me crazy, but even though you don't look familiar, I think I know you. Your auras are familiar, and your eyes said that you knew me, as I walked past you. I study the faces of the people around me."

Changing my accent as best I could, and this was something the auror trainers had me working on, I replied "that seems doubtful. We just arrived from Canada today. I'm Hilary, who are you."

Charity had joined us. "What is it, you just suddenly disappeared?"

"I just had a 'strong feeling'. Both women looked like they recognised me, plus a little fear at seeing us here."

"I was telling your friend that this is our first time on your campus. For some reason, she doesn't believe me."

"I don't believe you either. I can tell when people lie to me. You reek of peppermint. No matter, we must scurry if we don't want to be late for class. Sarah!"

"Not good!" Odin seemed more than a little upset at me. "You are going to have to fix that. We cannot have clone of Yggdrasil and those two sharing this campus."

Oops! I knew there was a serious problem, but really couldn't think what I could have done differently. That girl had a sort of magic! Even in this land of almost no magic. Would it be safe to have her living atop clone of Yggdrasil? Yes, I would have to deal with this, or we would have to find a new site.

We met with The Dude. He recognised at once that this was a serious threat to choosing Hussite College as the site. He wasn't happy but was philosophical about it. He still wanted Adrienne on his staff. He would still work with us, whatever decision we made. He respected us, although he questioned my handling of this situation. Despite being upset, it was impossible for him to hide his outright glee at learning that two of his students showed such well-developed 'special skills'. He said we should consider that they could be an asset to us and aid our cause. They could keep secrets. They were perhaps too brave and too bold for their own good, but they were fantastically loyal to persons or causes they believed in. We should introduce our true selves to them. In two hours, their classes would be over for the day and we could meet with them right here. They were primed to love us. They were all big Harry Potter fans. They weren't fantasists, they were solid amateur detectives, who had solved a murder and related crimes. They followed evidence. Didn't we need associates in America? It was important to nurture the rising generation. If we put the new Yggdrasil here, The Dude would certainly help us hide our own resources, beyond just Adrienne, inside the school community. His students could be a mutual resource. We agreed to meet with the students. I wouldn't have made that decision on my own, but Harry was with us to decide for his administration and Hermione was co-leader of the Quest. We all agreed. I caught a leaked thought from Harry: "The Dude already knows, how much more danger is there in letting responsible, intelligent students in on the secret? We had more overt magic, but we were once them. It's good to be reminded of our former selves."

The Dude was pleased. While we waited, he and Harry talked about the International Secrecy Statue, the ICW, and how his community could work with our community, the French, Germans, Greeks, and Indians to improve the present situation. Harry suggested that The Dude's ties to the ICW was a source of a little concern to him.

I shouldn't have been, but was, surprised by The Dude's answer: "The problem is Secretary Afshar and Mr. Tsieh. They are in each other's pockets. Mr. Tsieh is apparently gone now. Purged by the Chinese government, with extreme prejudice. At least he didn't give us away. They were the ones who stirred up all the agitation amongst the smaller Wizarding communities. Ginny and Hermione got along well with Yael. You need to keep pushing that relationship. She is very tight with Afshar's agents, so she can help us there. Her government is friendly - much of the world is antagonistic toward their nation, so they are seeking true friends."

It seemed Harry and The Dude had already agreed their position on the ISS: it still served a purpose, but probably not for much longer; all the Wizarding communities needed to keep magic hidden as long as possible, while integrating the members of their communities into the larger society. It was important to cultivate friendships with nonmagical politicians. Cissy was invaluable to the cause. So was Adrienne. "With all due humility, so am I," The Dude declared. "And don't be so down on the Harry Potter stories. They pave the way for our acceptance by the general public. If they cast the Weasleys, or others of your group, in less than your most favorable light, is that really something that is truly important?"

Adrienne had packed two large-mouth, magical, carry-all bags for this trip. I had carried one of them on our walk to the North Campus. She was now unpacking them, to show The Dude some of the items she wanted to submit for her faculty art show. She had very Japanese-looking bronze trees, growing out of large chunks of rock, statues of young girls dancing - singly as well as a line of four dancers, two shiny steel statues of nothing outside her own imagination, a copper statue of a gold fish, an alabaster statue of a dove and an obsidian one of a whale. There were paintings of a forest glen, of three old men smoking pipes, of happy Oktoberfest revellers, of an ancient woman who I knew to be Victoria, of her own infant surrounded by his toys, of a busy city center, and of a desolate pair of side-by-side mountain tops.

"Most impressive," The Dude congratulated her. These will make an excellent exhibit - introduce you with a bang. I'm hoping that you can start almost immediately."

She could. They were discussing how she might be best deployed for the remainder of the semester, when the students arrived.

"You tattled on us, that isn't nice. Sarah didn't mean to be rude. Neither did I, but we both know that you lied."

"No tattling. Your professor and we just decided that you could be trusted with the truth and that we could be friends," I explained. "Yes, there is some truth in the Harry Potter tales. Best to say they are fiction based upon fact, with some persons and events severely warped or made up. But you are correct, you did meet me before, when we were Polyjuiced. I'm Ginny Weasley Potter, this is my husband Harry, and Hermione Granger Weasley, and Adrienne Celine who will be teaching art here almost immediately. And yes, Barb is our protection auror and a member of the Quest team. And this is the major God, Odin. We hope that you will work with us, and lend your protection, to protect our secrets, keep magic safe, and battle the bad guys." I know how pretentious that last sounds, but I found myself at a bit of a loss for words.

"I knew it!" Sarah shouted enough that The Dude cautioned her that this wasn't the way to keep secrets and that he welcomed her enthusiasm but insisted she not attract a crowd.

"I'm sorry I called you a liar, sometimes important secrets must be protected by well-intentioned lies. I suspect you wanted to protect us and doubted we could keep a secret."

"I didn't doubt you Charity, I simply didn't know you. Your professor speaks very highly of you and I can tell that you have some talents, which are at least second cousins of what we consider to be magic. So does Sarah. We are here to build a magical circle in America. In this part of America, in fact. This will likely boost your talents. It may boost them a lot. Given your history and your character, we felt you had a right to know that. You may even want to assist in building the circle." I was thinking this up as I went, but it struck me that we needed something a lot less drastic than the Child of Yggdrasil to explain the increase in magic. If push came to shove, we could admit to the circle. In my defence, I had quickly messaged Harry and Hermione, prior to saying this. Still, Barb looked gobsmacked and Adrienne looked at least mildly confused.

"Of course, we want to help," Sarah exclaimed excitedly, but less loudly than her prior remark.

"Have you considered where to build this circle?" Although surprised, The Dude was ready to make a circle happen. He obviously saw more power for his community.

"No. We were hoping that you could help us with that. If there is a secure abandoned factory or warehouse that we could purchase. We could even do some Witch Sculpture manufacturing and employ some members of your community."

"What an excellent idea! I'll get right on it."

The Dude provided coffee and crumpets for the students and us, but he and Odin left us, with The Dude telling us that he wanted to show Odin his laboratory.

I didn't mind being left with the students. We needed to understand them a lot better than we did. I felt rotten doing it to innocent children, but I did employ a little bit of Legilimency. I believe Hermione did the same. Really, I just wanted to confirm my intuition that they were as they seemed. I detected nothing amiss and gently retreated my very superficial probe from their minds. I could still truth-tell. Everything they said was positive and I detected zero lying. They really were nice kids. Fran Lester was correct: the Harry Potter tales did predetermine that they would like us. How many more fans did we have in America?

Julio and Adrienne were huddled in a private conversation about painting, while the rest of us conversed. All I got from Adrienne's conversation was Julio's enthusiasm about meeting his favorite HP character. He was now minutely examining the art, which Adrienne had brought, and enthusing over its quality, while commenting: "I would have loved to see your pieces based on Britain's magical world. I understand why it was unsafe to bring them. I dreamed of seeing the Acolyte painting and the others described in the HP tales. So, you still have your portrait of Harry? I must see it!"

It probably wasn't the politic thing to do, and I saw Harry's face drop, but Adrienne offered to take Julio back to Hogwarts with us and show him the more secret part of her portfolio. Of course, Julio immediately accepted. Of course, The Dude later agreed that he could be excused from class for a couple of days, which would also give him the weekend. Of course, the other students wanted to visit Hogwarts. Harry felt obliged to invite them all - I could feel that he was less than thrilled. Harry's enthusiasm took another step down, when the invitation was expanded to include American Ginny's boyfriend, the fifth student who wasn't in this meeting because he attended the technical science charter school. As soon as The Dude and Odin returned, and discussed the Hogwarts visits, it was off to Hogwarts, with Odin telling us we must be on Asgard for our vacation trip to Elysium in four days.

Suffice it to say that the kids thoroughly enjoyed Hogwarts. I should add that I couldn't resist administering my 'lift-the-paper' test. They used one of my spare wands for this. This was probably a very fair test, since their own school would have almost as strong magical force as Hogwarts, once the Kid of Yggdrasil was up and running. Sarah showed the most ability, with Charity not far behind. Ginny and Julio had a little less ability, but except for Ginny's boyfriend, they all showed some ability. He might have shown a different sort of ability. He successfully made potions. Potions, which as far as I or Professor Sprout or McGonagall knew, were supposed to be impossible for a nonmagical person to create. He showed potential to be a whiz at potions. To rule out the possible influence of magical me being close to his cauldron, I had him make a difficult potion, while all alone in the potion's classroom. It came out fine - nearly perfect. He suggested "if one excels in chemistry lab, which I do, then one should be able to bake an excellent cake or quiche, or apparently a Felix Felicis potion." I was feeling excited by his achievement and, perhaps rashly, allowed him to keep that small vial of 'liquid luck', after receiving Hermione's opinion that it was unlikely to kill a nonmagical person.

A good time was had by all and they were back at Hussite College in time for Sunday church services. I co-presided with Ostara at Sunday services of our own Light Guardian church in Hogsmeade. I found myself feeling very much at home as a Light guardian priestess. When all the residual Quest duties, primarily the building of the circle in America and establishment of Kid of Yggdrasil, were behind me, I could easily see myself settling into the life of a Light Guardian Priestess, perhaps with some teaching thrown in. Lots of schools had chaplains. Perhaps I could be the Hogwarts Chaplain. Being the Mother also carried some on-going responsibilities, but was also a great credential for a chaplain to have.

Right before noon on Monday, I led an exceptionally large troop off to Elysium, by way of Asgard. Harry and Ron had agreed to take a three-week vacation with Hermione and me. I was pleasantly surprised that they were willing to step away from their jobs for that long. Adrienne and her son would share that time with us, and then take up residence at Hussite College. I included Megan Bellew in this group, because she and Adrienne would be teaching together, and should get to know each other better. I didn't want Adrienne to succumb to loneliness depression in America. The Dude was unhappy with Adrienne's three-week delay and also with losing Megan, but Adrienne was adamant that she needed a break and some intense beauty. I told The Dude that including Megan on this trip would boost our joint interests. He said he would find a way to cover her absence.

Elysium was sheer beauty: tall, snow-capped mountains in the background, a large grassy plain surrounded by fields and forest, the trees of that forest having leaves of every shade of green plus bronze, light red, dark red, and even purple. They were laden with fruits and nuts. Our little vacation village sat on the shore of a clear blue lake, fed by a mountain stream, with beautiful chalets build out over the lake and luxurious beds of flowers all around the lakeshore, with the exception of a sandy shore area for bathers and boaters. When we later explored the forest, we found that it also had trees with bright yellow and near black leaves and, myriad tree sprites and a small herd of Unicorns. This was a bonus because Pegasus and Unstaad were traveling with this half of the team. There was a stable with horses and what seemed a cross between a cow and a Bison. This latter animal provided milk for drinking, as well as for cheese, ice cream, yogurt, and whipping cream. Meat was not included in the diet. There were waterfowl, who provided eggs. When one of the waterfowl or farm animals died, they were given a ritual funeral, presided over by the Unicorns. Some of the farm animals had transitioned to spirit form prior to death. I met several of them: two horses and a Bison. The three of them formed a compound spirit being. Despite the lack of meat or fish, the food was uniformly excellent, fresh, and spiced exactly to my taste.

The village in which we stayed was presided over and run by four highly magical beings, who all were compound spirits. They explained to me one evening that they were ancient Aesir artists. They were not comfortable joining the huge compound spirit being, which became the Light Guardian, because those spirits arose from scientists, mathematicians, and engineers primarily, with very few artistic folk. More seriously, although they felt the need for companionship, they feared the raucous cacophony of blended minds that they had been certain the Light Guardian would become. The Light Guardian had visited Elysium several times. They were on good terms with it. It knew them to be peaceful and cooperated fully. They shared the Light Guardian's low opinion of the dark Gods: "malcontents, who never found a mate, and often not even a true friend, in their embodied life. Imagine not having a single person you are willing to spend eternity with, in preference to simply being alone – forever. That is the preference of a truly warped mind. On Elysium we have several single souls who happily mingle with the rest of us, but most of us are composites of two, four, up to eight souls. I contain four souls who were partners in what your people might call a polyamorous lesbian marriage. We weren't all mated in our prior life. Our best friend here is a composite of six friends, who shared a common interest in modern literature. Most, but not all, were famous writers themselves, back on Asgard, both male and female. We are a diverse lot – not solitary individualists, but most comfortable in small groups of the like-minded."

Elysium did its work to relax all of us and force us to contemplate the state of our lives and relationships. They generally weren't in the shape we wanted them to be. Harry and I are both fighters and sloggers at heart. No matter what, we keep pushing ourselves ahead, until the objective is achieved, and we are in a safe place. Until then, we can ignore pain, loneliness, fear, and, unfortunately, even put love on a back burner for days or even weeks. It is far from an ideal way to live

You don't know just how severely tense and stressed out you are, until you stand still for more than a minute. Elysium was enforced stand still and forced me to realise that Harry and I had both inhabited a less-than-happy, stressful, duty-bound place of little fun. We had been in that spot for too long. Worse, we had inhabited that mentally austere place more separately than we had promised each other we would, even in the worst of times. I realized just how good an idea this long vacation was. I was grateful that both Harry and I had been wise enough to give instructions that we weren't to be contacted, unless there was an emergency which couldn't be solved without our involvement. It was difficult to persuade Harry to take that step. To get him to give me a full three weeks, I had to ask, "Do you really want to become Arthur?" Harry's shudder said he most certainly did not. This was understandable. Harry had a much closer view of Dad and Prudence and the oh-so-close-to-collapse state of my parents' marriage. I still felt shame that I spent time with Mum at Hogwarts, but never realised just how bad things had become.

Elysium was bliss. Despite the beautiful scenery, Harry and I spent a huge amount of time in bed, just enjoying each other's bodies. More sex, and better sex, by far, than in any prior three-week period of our marriage. This was truly the start of our family. Not only was I pregnant when we left Elysium, but Harry and I had talked out how we could share a very happy and meaningful life together, without taking on so much responsibility and trying to run so many things in our community and the larger worlds. Harry was incredibly pleased that I relented, and our first-born would be a son. We agreed that he would be Frederick Albus Potter. We agreed that there would be a daughter, then another son, who would be named for Harry's father. Mainly, we agreed to give our children as good and as normal a home life as possible. That meant we would have to be more normal persons, with more normal jobs. No more 'the famous Harry Potter'. We wanted to give our children enough, but not too much, in the way of material things. We wanted them to be students, rather than fighters, with Quidditch less of a thing than it had been for both of us. We wanted them to feel peace and safety and to have as close friends as Harry had at Hogwarts. I felt I could be happy and fulfilled as a priestess, mother, and possibly teacher. We both thought we could be happy as mid-level Ministry employees. I didn't see myself as Minister, a future that King Goblanze had all but laid out for me.

We did enjoy what Elysium had to offer. We rode horseback together, swam, took a trip around the lake on a sailboat we piloted ourselves, hiked, even climbed to the top of the taller of the mountain peaks. From there we explored more of this world, by Apparating to and from interesting looking clearings, which we spied from the mountain top. We saw two other small villages, but obeyed our hosts' instructions to stay away from them, less we disturb their guests' vacations. Harry and i cooked together, both in the chalet and over a campfire; we didn't cook a lot; the village hosts cooked communal meals. I read more than I had read, even in my finest studently persona at Hogwarts. Harry also read more than I had seen him read before, and not Ministry reports.

I realise that this makes it sound as though Harry and I kept almost completely to ourselves on Elysium. We didn't. We spent a lot of time with Ron and Hermione. The two of them spent as much time alone in their bed as we did in ours. We spent a lot of time with Adrienne. At least we did for the first week. She had a lot of life changes to return home to, having committed to at least fourteen months at Hussite College. She had some doubts. She felt she was deserting us. We assured her that she would be fine; we would be fine. Would she be safe at Hussite College? Would one of the young students blab her identity? Would a raven discover her? It was good that both Vili and Frijjo were dead and Dik was confined to his cottage, but she still felt that she constantly had to look over both shoulders and keep one hand on her wand. She might be isolated and lonely in America. She wasn't really used to living as the lone adult in her household, even if the other adults were merely roommate, sort-of friends, or even the hated Bruce.

All of this changed around the beginning of her second week in Elysium. Elysium was relaxing and destressing her. I thought there might be something in the air, water, or food, or perhaps simply very well-pitched magical energy. On her eighth day, she admitted to us that she felt much better and that it was probably the first time she had relaxed in a decade. What worried her most was the memory of the stress of being immersed in the nonmagical world. The constant hiding of her core self was a huge strain - almost as much in art school and living with nonmagical roommates, as her time with Bruce. I think we left her mind in a happy place and then Elysium provided its special sort of peace. A couple of days later, we noticed that she and Megan had coupled up. We saw little of her for the rest of the vacation, but her mood was happy and she was looking forward to her move to Hussite College.

On the final afternoon of our Elysium vacation, while Harry and I were packing, Victoria appeared at the door of our chalet. As soon as she entered, I offered her choice of tea or the local equivalent of sherry. "No, I'm just going to say what I came to say, because I don't want discussion or any attempt to change my mind. You're packing. I'm staying. The hosts said I have been a devoted priestess for over a hundred years and have risked the dangers of Quest. They invited me to stay. I will survive longer here. This place is better than even your magical charging ovals, but even with that, I don't have many years left. I want to spend them in convivial peace here on Elysium. The hosts will teach me how to become spirit when the time comes. I have made friends with a four-spirit entity, which has welcomed me to join them in ten years or so. I have accepted. We wished her well and exchanged hugs.

We were finished packing and ready to leave the chalet and organise the group's return to Earth, when two of the host entities appeared at our door. They said they hoped the event lay far in our futures, but that we were invited to move to Elysium, whenever we chose, either in body or spirit. They explained the etiquette that such invitations were not to be discussed among the group. They could tell us that Ron and Hermione had received the same offer. We were allowed to discuss the invitation with them Of course, we were welcome to vacation here, whenever we chose. Henceforth, we would have the status of future members of their community. They knew that I would be returning with the other half of my team and said they had planned events that would keep Hermione and me happy and content, with both boredom and loneliness banished. I thanked them.


	72. Chapter 72

**Chapter 72 – Return To Hussite College**

I had given The Dude a post office box number in Sheffield, which he could use to correspond with us. I'd have given him privileges to communicate with our Black Stone, but he either wasn't magical enough, or his magical abilities weren't sufficiently trained, for him to talk to the Black Stone from an ocean away. This deficiency prodded me to invite The Dude on the second wave of vacationers to Elysium. For the present, somebody needed to swing by the post office, which was a risk. Mail between nations was subject to inspection by intelligence agencies, especially if the sender or addressee were on some sort of watch list of suspects. We had only owned this postal box for a month prior to our vacation, if the box was used while Geoffrey was active, likely it was burnt. As a safeguard, the responsibility for checking this box was given to an Auror on Polyjuice.

When we returned home, there was a letter waiting on Harry's desk from The Dude. Since we had cautioned him that saying anything too obviously significant would attract unwanted attention and that coded messages always attracted the wrong attention, his message was terse and made no mention of magic.

The Dude wrote: "I have located a suitable building for manufacturing your garden furniture line. The purchase price was three million American dollars. The building will need a little work before you can move in equipment and start manufacturing. I have authorised a half million American dollars for much needed repairs. I expect it to cost another million dollars to get it into final shape. Please send reimbursement as soon as possible, but within the month, as my bank loan is only temporary.

Okay, a trip back to Hussite College was in order. I knew that Adrienne planned to take several days to show Megan around her world. That would have to wait. They both needed to come with us. I Stone-messaged her that we had to leave right after breakfast tomorrow and that she and Megan likely should take the lead in directing Charity and her friend's participation in the construction of the Hussite circle. Ron would come with us to shepherd several Hogwarts students. I told Ron he needed to assemble his team immediately, because we were about to spend the night building a synthetic Lodestone. This would be partly experimental: Odin didn't fully understand the technology and Yggdrasil had only been able to fill in part of the gaps, with Odin's knowledge of magical metallurgy filling in some others. What we did would be part hunch as we tried to combine three incomplete procedures.

It would have been so simple to simply use the Norwegian expensive-metal-in-place-of lodestone, which was stored in the Hogwarts pyramid. Unfortunately, the fate of that treasure was a point of contention with the Prime Minister of Norway. It was one thing to claim, "we are the most magical community and we are able to put it to good use at the right time." Tony supported that and was keeping the Norwegian Prime Minister just barely in line. It would be a whole different story if we gave it to The Dude. That could become very messy, very fast. So... we had quite a few hours of experimentation ahead of us.

"If we're going to start right in on the Hussite circle, we need to do some planning," Harry demanded. "I've sent for Ellie, the Deputy Minister and Director Shacklebolt. Ron is already here. Please come to my conference room at once."

Alright then. Harry's concern quickly became clear. "It just struck me when you messaged me about returning to Hussite to begin construction of a circle. It's going to be in a manufacturing building. A building shared with your production line, storage, and shipping. That's a lot of nonmagicals in and out every day. There will be government inspectors who insist upon viewing everything. How do you expect to keep a circle secret? The secret circles have always been underground. We spotted the Norwegian circle easily enough from the air. Then I realised the major problem: you can't build a traditional circle inside a manufacturing building. That's why the Norwegian circle looked like it did. You are planning a modern, or super-modern circle. That risks giving away a lot of serious magical technology. Even if the nonmagicals don't get it, the American Wizards surely will. Do we trust The Dude that much?'

Harry was clearly very worried and upset. Ron and the others seemed to largely share his view. Only Hermione and Ellie were on my side. Ellie tried to explain what she thought was my thinking to Harry. That might seem presumptuous, but I think she was just trying to avoid a big, public fight between Harry and me. "The American Wizards certainly would learn the fine details of making a traditional circle work and would definitely be able to replicate that in a second, third, and on and on, circle they build themselves. The key difference between a strong and a weak traditional circle is the webbing design and the exact selection and placement of the gems atop the lodestone. I'm not sure The Dude has been able to examine our circles closely enough to know all of that, but he certainly can study and reproduce any traditional circle we build on his patch. He can't make another modern circle, because he can't make a purple diamond and can't make a synthetic lodestone. Neither can the nonmagical government. It may be safer to build a modern circle than a traditional circle."

This calmed the crew. I pressed the advantage: "we all know that magical circles are traditionally build underground to keep them secret. The nonmagical government of America won't know that. What they are most likely to know about is the Norwegian circle, and that was in a warehouse. So, likely they expect to find a magical source in a warehouse. Now, you are probably thinking that my plan makes it likelier that they find the circle. It does, but that isn't my major concern. The top priority must be to protect Kid of Yggdrasil. The strength of magic is certain to increase around Hussite college - probably in a fifth of the United States. If it is discovered, the nonmagical government will come searching. They may or may not find the circle. If they do, we shut down the circle and Kid of Yggdrasil must sleep. They will steal the circle and declare" 'problem solved'. We could either wait a while and restart Kid of Yggdrasil, or we move it. In either case, it is safe.

"That makes sense," Harry admitted, but now I wonder if Hussite college is the right place for Kid of Yggdrasil. Maybe an empty world is the best spot."

"We would have to guard it constantly. We couldn't afford a large garrison and it would be in danger of being quickly over-run by a determined attack. Unless we destroy more of the Ribbon Between Worlds, and we'd become very unpopular on all the worlds if we did that for no obviously good reason. An attack in force wouldn't be difficult. I've thought a lot about this. So has Hermione. She's worn her tiara. There isn't another choice of site, which seems obviously better. I like that Kid of Yggdrasil will be just an easy Apparate away. There is no perfect location. Everything we or Odin considered had a downside."

"What about Elysium?"

"Don't know that much about it. We will take more vacations there and try to learn more. Right now, I'm not comfortable with Elysium. As pleasant as it was and as friendly as the spirit hosts were, Elysium is a world firmly under the control of others, whom we just don't know enough about to trust Kid of Yggdrasil to them. I can contact Odin and we can all listen to his initial reaction, although I will want him and us to give this a lot more thought prior to choosing Elysium."

All agreed, so I immediately reached out to Odin and posed the question. There was silence for five minutes, then we heard Odin's almost instant reaction:

**My first inclination is to say no. It probably is fine. I think the Elysium hosts are great, but... we must remember that they are the spirits of ancient Aesir. They have the ancient Aesir cultural ethics, which none of us can fully understand, plus their own ethics and interests developed since they arrived on Elysium. This is the most important issue: they have at least the same level of power as the dark Gods you have encountered. I say 'at least' because the dark Gods are all single-spirit entities. The hosts contain up to eight different spirits and all evidence says they work extremely well in unison. I think that they would be most formidable foes. As ancient Aesir, they understand the power of Yggdrasil, although they weren't the technical persons who worked closely with it and best understood it. I fear the temptation to study and control an even stronger Yggdrasil might be too great a temptation. You are to return to Elysium soon. That doubt, which I have just implanted in your minds, must be Obliviated, prior to any of you going to Elysium. You must voice this doubt to nobody else, lest they mention it to another, who may visit Elysium. I know I sound paranoid, but better to be safe.**

"That totally sold me on Hussite," Harry grimaced. "I'm embarrassed that I allowed great beauty and comfort to cause me to ignore the presence of such immense power on Elysium. A Minister just can't miss something like that. It's far too... dangerous and possibly deadly. Okay, let's Obliviate. Odin is correct, it must be done. Doctor Wright can do it, then he is forever banned from traveling to Elysium."

Harry issued that ban, without explanation beyond 'security of knowledge vital to safety of Wizard community'. I knew that none of us would be able to remember Why this was done. I tore out the last page of my journal and ordered it to vanish for a year. Doctor Wright did his job. We now had to make a synthetic Lodestone. I took Ellie with us to the floor of the Hogwarts pyramid.

Director Shacklebolt and McGonagall had gotten the preliminaries out of the way, while we were vacationing. There was a big mound of Hematite and Magnetite, crushed to the fineness and then mixed in the proportions dictated by Hermione's uncles. They also provided the fine silver threads, which the uncles said must be included. The silver wire had been stretched out in the three-dimensional Starfish pattern, secured to a fragment of a purple diamond at the center. The whole thing, suspended from an outside wooden frame, was sized to make a Lodestone six feet square by a foot tall. I complimented McGonagall on her excellent work, knowing she was the one responsible for the attention to detail. She even had made three test Starfish to support test Lodestones a foot square by six inches tall. This was a good size to try our skill at, but also big enough that they would be of real value if we made some good ones. McGonagall was pleased by my compliment but confessed "I had a lot of most useful help from Ellie. We both know what a gem she is."

This august group of helpers had also bought an electromagnet and a lot of batteries to power it. We would need that to magnetise our product. We pored over the detailed drawings of the fine structure prepared by one of the uncles. The final product would be truly large-scale Witch Sculpture. It would be good to have Adrienne, but I had promised her this half day to show our world to Megan, before we all were off to The Dude's factory building. I thought we'd be okay without her. She was THE Witch Sculpting expert, but Hermione and I had stronger magical powers and a lot more practice at using our Black Stone to store our detailed mental image, before we cast the spell to sculpt We also could sculpt together, in perfect unison, timed to precision in space and time by our Black Stone. It was the Witch sculpting equivalent of Viktor's double curse.

The small-scale sculpting went fine. Hermione's first attempt and my second were perfect, as far as we could discern. Obviously, Hermione would lead us in casting the spell which produced the giant Lodestone. She was wearing the diadem. She had discovered, by chance or more accurately by just fooling around, that she had a better link to the Black Stone, when she wore the diadem. Surprisingly, it also gave her a better direct to me. It usually didn't make much difference, unless we were in a place from which it was difficult to establish contact, but to visualise this large an object, it would be a big help. My main job would be to steady the silver wire lattice. It wasn't at all a difficult job. The weight of even the over-sized sliver of purple diamond at the center of the silver Starfish made the wires sag a little. I exerted just enough force to fight that sag. Hermione might have been able to make the big Lodestone without help, but was easier for me to do about a third of the sculpting. I felt that we had a much better than even chance of success. As I was thinking all of this, our Black Stone began the countdown. As I acted, I saw the big Lodestone suddenly materialise in front of me. It made a bit of noise as it fell six inches to the straw-covered pyramid floor.

We magnetised it, then we tested it. It seemed good, but we weren't equipped to do a detailed analysis. It was quite possible that we had created a perfect synthetic Lodestone but had dislodged the purple diamond sliver from the silver wires. That would ruin everything. We didn't have another pre-made Starfish, and no way to do a final test, so it was what it was. We would Apparate it to the empty factory building and it would work, or it wouldn't, when we finished the circle. We wouldn't transport it yet. We needed to view the building and approve it. Then the area for the Lodestone to be recessed into the floor needed to be prepared, including padding the bottom, so we didn't Apparate the stone with a big clang and break it in half. We were ready to travel to America again.

We met with The Dude and he drove us to the factory building. It was large enough and not in horrible shape, although the heating system needed to be replaced. The roof had already been patched, and a lot of broken windows were replaced. The Dude had done well.

We magically excavated a five-foot-two-inch square hole all the way through the concrete, which was a foot and a half thick. Soft dirt was added back to the hole, so that it was only six inches deep. The weight of the Lodestone would compact it. Happily, we didn't have low windows, which could be spied through. The Dude had covered these over with steel plate, which could be detached from the inside. The upper windows were replaced with closable slat grids for ventilation. We built a thin metal partition, twelve feet square, to shield the circle. All was good. We had paid our money, signed the deed, had the heater and fixed, and the building scrubbed. It was time to Apparate the Lodestone and build the circle.

The Hogwarts and new Hussite students were to assemble and assist us, just as soon as we got the Lodestone in place. Harry and Shacklebolt told us that eight aurors would Apparate the lodestone. I told him that Hermione and I would lead a team of six other persons, who were skilled at tying into our Black Stone. A tense discussion ensued. Harry and Ron were worried that we would be injured. Obviously the aurors, who were more likely to be injured working on their own, were more expendable in the lads' minds. We did have some aurors: Barb, Bill, and Wood, but also Ellie, Cissy, and Cho. I stressed the need to keep legs and feet away from the Lodestone and to let go of the stone with our hands the instant we arrived. We could Apparate it, but the eight of us certainly couldn't hold it. It would fall to the ground like, well, like a stone. We tied into the Black Stone, to synchronise our actions and to help us stay level in flight. Cho, Hermione, Cissy, and I were absolutely locked together, as closely as Harry and me at our best. We jointly steered us to our destination during the Apparate. We intended to bring the Lodestone in an inch from each edge of the cut in the concrete and eight inches above the surface of the floor.

"It will be 'one-two-three-go'," I told my team.** "...go!"** The Apparate seemed to take forever, although it probably lasted ten seconds at most. Each of the four of us followed the Black Stone's guidance to adjust the attitude of the Lodestone, as needed. We brought it in perfectly on target, just an inch lower than planned, and oriented almost perfectly flat. All feet were out as were all hands. The Lodestone thudded onto the soft earth and sank just about level with the floor. It was half an inch below the level of the rest of the floor.

"Now we let it settle for a day," Hermione instructed. "It will probably sink another half inch - not what we wanted, but likely not too serious a problem."

We slept on the floor of the factory. All the kids arrived early in the morning. Their escorts brought a ton of food and drink, so we were good for breakfast and lunch. Since the students, as well as Adrienne, Megan, and Ron had already eaten, I left the teachers to explain all the materials and tools we had brought, while the rest of us ate. We explained what the circle would look like when it was finished. We explained that we were using a novel design and tweaking it so that it would produce magic more attuned to our bodies. I intended to use the Light Guardian's pattern for the silver webbing. The gems atop the Lodestone would be a central purple diamond, surrounded by four large ruby cylinders, Witch sculpted by ourselves to match, but also improve upon the synthetic ruby rods the nonmagical world manufactured. Outside of that, a circle of six silicons - ours would be taller than those used by any of the off-worlders, and then an outer circle of eight calcites. Only the calcites would be beyond the surface of the Lodestone. We would seal all the crystals to the Lodestone. or the concrete floor, with molten silver. We had brought all the supplies. I told the students that we would eat breakfast first, then start cementing the gap between the Lodestone and the concrete floor of the warehouse.

"We melted silver. The American students poured it in the gap and smoothed it. Hermione Witch sculpted a silver cage, on a cylindrical silver pedestal, to hold the purple diamond. Megan had acquired rock drills. She, Ginny, and Julio drilled holes in the lodestone, at places designated by Hermione. The first hole finished and utilised was the one for Hermione's cage. A little molten silver was poured into the bottom of the bored hole and the cage's pedestal was rammed into it before the silver could solidify. Very shallow holes were bored into the next circle on the Lodestone to hold the synthetic rubies, and then smoothed with fine chisels.

The Dude checked in to see how we were doing and brought food. I think he mainly wanted to make sure that his students weren't totally overwhelmed. He brought food which was new to me: "local cheese steak sandwiches with real cheese and tomato sauce - makes all the difference in the world, French fried potatoes, salads, iced tea, sweet potato fries, and 'Dutch' baked beans made with lima beans."

His food was good. I particularly enjoyed the cheese steaks, sweet potato fries, and baked beans. The Dude ate with us, complimented the students on their hard work, and stayed until sleep time, as we placed the silicons and began drilling the floor for the calcites. The Dude immediately stopped us: "way too loud for this late at night. Somebody will call the police on you and that will be a tough explanation. You can do that after nine tomorrow morning."

As we worked, The Dude wanted to talk about the power and range of the circle. I told him that I wanted to start it at low power, so that we didn't cause wild magic in areas where we couldn't respond to the problems that would create. The circle could pump out plenty of magic, but that was unwise. We'd set it high enough to impact those at his college and charter school campuses. It seemed not an accident that the warehouse he had chosen for us was roughly in the center of the square formed by the North and South college campuses and the two charter schools. I told him that Yggdrasil had just taught us how to block magical energy and that we could set up barriers at the edge of the area we wanted to influence with our circle. Problem: we would probably need to purchase more properties, so we couldn't install the barriers and ramp up the circle's power for some time. The Dude seemed happy with this answer.

It took two more days to finish the circle. We started it at incredibly low power and then crept it up to about a quarter strength. Ron taught the students how to observe the lines of magical force through the various viewing devices and to determine if the pattern was satisfactory. The students found one place where the silver webbing between the two rear calcites was not quite right. It would be a very quick fix, but we had to delay while Ron instructed the students, so that they all understood what was wrong, what had to be done to fix it, and how we accomplish the fix. The American students could participate in the fix. Ginny stirred the molten silver, Charity raised the protective shield as Ron directed two Hogwarts students, who drew out a single thin strand of silver, attaching it to a calcite and then slowly stretching it toward the other calcite. Julio watched through the viewer, telling the two Hogwarts students when they had the attachment point on the second calcite exactly right. Of course, all had to view how the magical force lines looked after this fix was made. The Dude arrived to examine the finished product. He congratulated one and all for our 'exceptionally fine effort, which will prove a great boon for the American Hussite community."

We had an hour and a half, before dinner, so I decided to test the magical ability of the students, in this field of enhanced magical energy. I asked them if they felt any different. Only Sarah responded, telling me "I feel a lot more intuitive. I like it, but the psychologist whom my mother insists that I see, she won't be at all happy about that."

"Don't tell her," was Ron's sensible guidance.

I repeated my paper test, using a full sheet of thicker paper. Everyone's performance was noticeably improved.

The Dude hosted us all for a celebratory dinner at a most excellent local restaurant. I took the opportunity to explore some new tastes. I had fluke sashimi - that's thin sliced, super-fresh, raw fish, with hot chillies, lime, mint, and shallots. That was just for starters. I enjoyed a soup with crab, lobster, and saffron and then seared Foie Gras with huckleberry jam. I finished with a bite of Ron's crisp roasted duck. I ended the meal tipsy: three different wines and an ancient Grand Marnier orange liqueur, which I consumed with locally produced cheddar cheese. I memorised the labels of all the bottles. We kept the discussion totally nonmagical since waiters had the bad habit of suddenly popping up beside one of us. We talked about the girls' schooling, with The Dude asking our opinion, as if we were their guardians. Perhaps we were their magical world guardians. It was a lovely dinner and I felt I knew the students, and even The Dude, quite a bit better. I remained watchful of The Dude. He was very friendly towards us and a perfect host, but he had an aura of power about him, which seemed a bit out of place for an old, smallish, nonmagical man with wispy grey hair.

Ron had kindly refrained from drinking alcohol, as had Barb. They would be our designated Apparators. They did their job smoothly and we were back on the Hogwarts lawn, walking through the dark to the new hospital/infirmary. Mr. Lester was on duty. He greeted us as we walked past, motioning us to enter.

"I wanted to thank everyone who contributed to my gaining this position. I am enjoying it immensely. I bring some modern medicines to treat various ailments, use potions as well, and call upon Doctor Wright for magical healing. I feel like a research scientist already, and I am still a healer. Fran would like to speak to you. I think it's about Stephen. She's staying in her Hogwarts apartment, but I guess you won't be able to reach her until breakfast. I don't think it's anything serious. To my view, my family is generally doing very well."

I promised to look up Fran in the morning. For now, it was off to Harry and bed. I had been away for three full days. I enjoyed my dinner of new foods but would rather have just warmed up some stew to eat with Harry.

I looked up Fran, seeing her seated at the Hogwarts table for breakfast. She left the table to join me in a vacant corner at the back of the Great Hall. I knew how to make a little table and chair appear and performed that trick. I went back for some food from the Hogwarts table, telling Fran as I sat "your husband said you wanted to speak to me about Stephen."

"No, not Stephen. Since the knocking down the trees episode, he has been doing very well. No, I wanted to talk to you about my Harry Potter novels. I'm sure you must realise the shock I felt, when I learned that the details for my stories came not from a long-term member of the Sisterhood and Order, but from a spy from another world. That is very disturbing, both that I was fooled so badly and that Dik knew so much about the magical people of Britain. Some of the things I got wrong about your family, apart from changes I made to make the story more amusing and to keep it moving along - those may be down to Dik. I would like to be friends with you and with your brothers. I've had dinner with your parents twice, and we get along very well. You are a strong Witch. I could have easily made more of that strength apparent in my stories, apart from your sixth year and Battle of Hogwarts, where I think you come off as being very brave and strong. As a feminist, I needed more emphasis upon your strength - Hermione is strong, but she has a different sort of strength. Can we have dinner together sometime? Perhaps talk about what bothers you the most about my stories and what I can do to make changes in subsequent books and movies. There might well be a tale about your children."

"Okay, I'm willing to join you for dinner. What bothers me most? I'll mention one seemingly small thing now - it seems insignificant, almost, but it also goes to the core of my marriage to Harry. It's your Epilogue. You give my children entirely Harry names. They are not names anybody would expect me to agree with. There is no way I name a son Albus Severus. I simply wouldn't do that... ever, partly because I just didn't like Dumbledore nearly as much as Harry did and downright disliked Snape, but mainly because my first-born son is going to be named for my brother Fred, who died in the Battle of Hogwarts. I've already told Harry that if he thinks he's going to have an Albus Severus, then he isn't going to have any sons. I WILL have a role in naming my own children. That won't be entirely up to Harry!"

"Yes, I can understand why that would upset you and how terribly sexist it seems. I know your marriage is a true partnership and that you hold as powerful a position as Harry does."

We agreed to get together for lunch, just the two of us, when I returned from Elysium, since I was leaving in just two days. On a whim, I asked her if she would like to join us for that trip. She wasn't a Quest team member, but, in a sense, was a part of the larger story. She quickly agreed. We had lunch four days later and more or less made peace. I told her that Ron and Hermione made an excellent married couple and that her repeated public comments that they were a mistake, which she regretted, were beyond annoying and would keep Hermione and Ron from ever liking her. I told her that Hemerocallis made it clear why Harry loved me, but she did not. In the books, I seemed a surprising chance pairing for superstar Harry, who was too shy to do other than settle, after losing out on Cho. I told her that she just barely glanced upon Dad's strengths. I couldn't help returning to the issue of my children's names and Harry being the only truly comforting parent as we sent young Albus off to Hogwarts. I remarked that in a tale which focused upon motherhood, that my role as a mother seemed almost nonexistent, while Harry was super dad.

She apologized. She actually contacted me three days later. She, Hermione, and I met for lunch in Mrs. Bones' shop. As we ate our quiches, she said she had thought a lot about what I had said about myself as mother. She said, in retrospect, she wanted to focus upon Harry overcoming the bad parental modeling of the Dursleys, to become a sensitive, loving, communicative father. The final scene on the platform demonstrated how much Harry had grown emotionally, but also how comfortable he and I were as a couple. She also wanted to have Harry move past 'the very famous Harry Potter' and for the four of us to be striving to raise normal children, just as my parents had. Shr said she would have given this scene more attention, had she planned to write a second-generation novel, but had frankly become bored with the whole business at that time. Over chocolate chip cookies and milk, she thanked both of us for easing her families entry into the Wizarding world of Hogwarts. She said she was very sorry that she had been too cowardly for far too long in refusing to accept that she was a Witch. Her husband had taken the discovery remarkably well. She had feared his reaction. We were invited to a family dinner on the morrow, at the Lester estate. She wanted us to see just how well her children were doing. We accepted.

Dinner was excellent. The children were well behaved and eagerly showed off their magical skills, which were formidable. The adult Lesters seemed very comfortable, both with themselves and with us.

Hermione, Cho, McGonagall, and I were completing the final organising for our quite large group to travel to Elysium. We left for Asgard in only twenty-seven hours. I was explaining to a sceptical McGonagall that it really was a good idea to include Fran in the traveling party. Fran had promised to occupy a lot of Professor Sturluson's time, which would take a big load off me. A stone message came in from Adrienne.

**Charity has been attacked by three older girls. Ginny and Julio beat them off, before they did too much damage, but Charity is mentally shaken up. Megan is with her and our other student friends. The fight has something to do with a magical necklace pendant, which the older girls claim Charity stole from her roommate - a roommate who has been missing for three days. The older girls say they have a big magical secret, which they will only share with you and Hermione and only if you promise not to involve their headmaster.**

That was beyond odd. Why would these older students, students whom we had never even met, even know about us, let alone want to talk only to us. This made zero sense. So little sense that I intended to arrive with ramped up magical defenses and another auror, in addition to Barb. I guess, although I didn't voice the specific concern to Hermione, Barb, or even myself, at the time... I feared a trap. We had dealt with too many foes from other worlds, not to have my mind drift in that direction.

We were off to the Hussite cavern. Megan and Adrienne would look for Charity and her friends, and her enemies, while the rest of us started boring down through the shore of the cavern. We were making reasonable progress, having excavated a hole fifteen feet deep by a foot in diameter, when Adrienne messaged us that they had spoken to Charity after classes were over and that Hermione and I should join them at Megan's apartment. "It's important. Charity has something most interesting, and I think important, to tell you Stay where you are. I'll come and Apparate you. It seems best that The Dude does not know of this meeting.".

Charity, American Ginny, and Sarah were all in Megan's apartment. "We had to meet with you in private, before the older students join us. They know so much that you are bound to see us as reckless babblers. I swear we are not. Please truth-tell me. I don't know how those girls learned what they learned, but it frightens me and I'm sure it at least troubles you. You said not to send any mail that mentioned magic, so I just waited until Adrienne returned to catch your attention and let you know we needed to talk, but this is about magic," Sarah bubbled forth, before anyone else could speak. "Charity really was attacked, but it relates to magic. Her dorm suite partner, who has been missing for four days, apparently discovered a way to travel from here to a different time and place. It was an accident. She and her three friends, who attacked Charity, discovered an old drainage tunnel beneath the basement of their dorm building, it runs all the way down to the river. They apparently were stupid enough to walk and crawl through it all the way down to the river, uncovering the exit, just above the river. Nothing happened on their first trips, but on the third trip, as they were making their way back to the dorm, Allie, that's Charity's suite mate, found a strange silver pendant on a silver chain. It was buried in the dry muck at the bottom of the tunnel. Apparently, Allie put the chain around her neck and as they were walking the rest of the way back to their dorm, Allie just vanished. She showed up six hours later, telling them that she had fought her way out of the tunnel to find herself in a storm drain in another country, where she couldn't understand the language, but people got around in horse carriages, instead of cars. She was excited but scared. She barely escaped an encounter with a local manage and managed to make it back into the storm drain and return to us. She did research, found that the language was Hungarian, bought a dictionary and on the day after that first trip tried to make the trip again. That was four days ago, and she hasn't been heard from since."

"I told the students "I suspect that the increased magic from starting the magical circle we built together cause this to happen. The times match."

Charity continued the explanation: "Their theory is that Allie lost the necklace in the tunnel, as she vanished into past Hungary and I somehow found it. They saw the chain around my neck and caught a glimpse of my pendant, as I left the shower. Apparently, my pendant looks like the one that Allie had. Except, it isn't hers. My grandmother gave this to me, before I came to this charter school. It has been in my family for generations. The older girls tried to steal it from me. When I wouldn't give it to them, they started punching me. They say that they need to take this pendant and travel back in time to rescue Allie. How would they even find her?"

I held out my hand and she slipped the chain off her neck and placed chain and pendant upon my neck, it was a starkly beautiful antique. The chain was a simple coarse silver chain of circular hoops, almost a half inch across. It was the pendant which really stood out. It was a silver disc, about two inches across, with a good-sized pink stone set in its center. An intricate scroll pattern was incised upon the face of the disc. I turned it over. The back was engraved with a heart inside which were engraved names, which I couldn't read. Beneath the heart was the number 1413 and beneath that, the number 7.

"I told Grandma Angel that I couldn't decipher the wording. Without looking at the pendant, she told me "It says 'Ladislav and Hus'. This was the symbol of a group known as The Thirteen, who supported Jan Hus and his teachings, at the time the anti-Pope conspired against him. They were true Hungarian patriots in the tradition of the great King Ladislav. They also were anti-Pope religious reformers. Our ancestor was number 7 in this brave group of national and religious heroes. That's as much as my grandmother thought I needed to know for now. She said I must wear this pendant with pride in my heritage. I was warned not to show it about. I think my grandfather was murdered by someone trying to steal the pendant. That someone may have been my own uncle. I haven't seen him since I was given the pendant. I wear it inside my blouse. I was careless to allow it to be seen but thought myself alone in the shower room."

"I suspect that the pendant may be the reason Meister John wanted me in his charter school as badly as he did. My father was his acolyte-in-training, but they had a falling out over doctrine. Meister John, he's the Hussite College biology professor you met. He's also the head of the International Council, which runs our sect. My father dreaded that I would come here and fall under Meister John's power. I had no choice. My friends and I were in too much trouble with the administrators and gangs who run William Penn High School. We had to flee them, and I had to flee the too close attentions of The Bad Dude. I think he has protected me, thus far, but he is a most dangerous criminal mastermind who gives orders to all the criminals and gangs in this area. They all fear him, and nobody knows who he is, or even if he is actually a he."

"You are very brave," I told her. "I don't blame you for being frightened. I'd be terrified in your shoes. We need to talk. It needs to be private. I'm going to take you back to Hogwarts for a long talk. First, Hermione is going to view your pendant through the magical force viewer. I think you have truth-teller ability. Your friend Sarah also seems to have prophetic power. I think that's important. I don't know about the rest of your friends. Are you willing to come to Hogwarts right now?"

"There is a lot of residual magic in the pendant," Hermione announced. "It must have been strongly magical back in the day."

"I am," Charity told us.

Sarah also agreed to join us.

One quick Apparate to the Hogwarts lawn, then a shiver and another hop into my own sitting room."

I made the girls drink some tea and sherry and just sit and relax with small talk. When they seemed mildly mellow, I spoke: "There is no way to sugar-coat this. Your Meister John is the not-very-magical representative from the United States Wizarding community to the International Federation of Wizards. We know him well from that organisation and his unavoidable inclusion in some of our adventures. As I said, no way to sugar-coat this, but we know Meister John as The Bad Dude. I'm afraid you've run to, rather than away from him. We will do our best to keep you safe, but I think you will need to continue to interact with him, while keeping a lot of secrets. Don't use your truth-telling skill to probe him. Leading questions will give you away. Hermione and I will help determine how dangerous The Bad Dude is. He didn't strike me as being that bad, but I will make it my mission to find the truth. I don't mind standing out by asking a probing question or two. He can't harm me. I am far more powerful than he is.

"He isn't the first problem we need to address. Problem one is what to do with the older girls. We will all use our truth-teller skills to determine how much they can be trusted. Their fear of The Dude learning of their activities can work in our favor, but we must help them get their friend back. I think, in the end, they will risk punishment to try to save her."

Charity and Sarah were both still shaking, but they nodded 'yes'.

"Should we meet with all of the students, including the older ones? We can truth-tell them and decide how much to tell them and, I guess ultimately, whether we have to Obliviate the older students."

"It's really your husband's call to make. As your Muse, I approve the approach. We need to keep the older students from attacking Charity and from blowing her cover. We need to find out a lot more about The Dude. I think we have to trust Charity and Sarah that all of their friends are able to keep a secret."

I messaged Harry. I was pleased to get his approval, but less than pleased to be informed that we should wait in our sitting room, because Harry, Ron, and McGonagall would be returning to America with us.

Harry arrived with his auror hat on. He questioned Charity and Sarah so closely that I repeatedly warned him that the girls were still shaky and that he was being too intense and pushy. He did tone it down each time. He didn't say anything awful or insist on any terribly personal information. He mainly demanded - yes, I chose that word deliberately - that the girls remember everything bad or threatening, which they knew for certain The Bad Dude had done. Then he asked them what they thought he had done; what others told them he had done. He urged them to mine their memories. Perhaps he urged them too strongly. He clearly wasn't improving their comfort level.

Finally, he announced: "possibly not awful. The Bad Dude seems to influence by reputation. He called the Vice Principal a 'dead man walking' for impersonating him. He didn't act against him. If he were awful, he would have just had him killed, not warned him. It sounds almost like he was trying to help your investigation by frightening the guy to give him reason to be very cooperative. You have evidence that he forbids killings and the bad guys fear him enough to follow that edict. I'm not at all sure you have any evidence that he has ordered anyone killed. You know LeSean was killed, but not at his order. You know that your favorite Assistant Principal was killed, despite being under his protection. You and your friends are under his protection. He didn't threaten you. He said he couldn't protect you any longer if you stayed at your old school. I think Adrienne must stall the older girls and the rest of Charity's group, while we have a talk with The Bad Dude. Stay here, Ron will fetch The Bad Dude. Please contact Adrienne through the Stone."

This was why I didn't want Harry to come. I admit this is a legitimate Ministry matter, but I had just completely lost control of the situation. At least I would be present and truth-telling for the interview of The Bad Dude. Apparently so would Charity and Sarah. So would Cissy, whom Harry asked me to summon. The more truth-tellers, the merrier!

The Bad Dude looked surprised and a tad worried to see us all together. He didn't wonder for long as Harry announced "you should know that my wife told the girls that you're The Bad Dude. Apparently, you have an unbelievably bad reputation as a secret master criminal, who can order the death of anyone who baulks your wishes. That's a side of yourself which you haven't revealed to us. Be aware that I have all three of my truth-tellers present, and that you can't possibly get away with a lie, and that Hermione has a jug of unpleasant-tasting spiked Veritaserum, which will surely loosen the tongue of one with as faint magic as you possess, I suggest that you save all of us time and maintain good feelings and our growing friendship by answering our questions honestly."

"Am I a prisoner. You worry me. We're allies. I take it the girls have told you tales of the terrible Bad Dude. It's a secret identity which I cultivate, to be able to manipulate affairs, which you would magically manipulate, but I, of course, cannot, because I'm hardly magical at all. I built a secret persona to gain the influence to protect bright, young, vulnerable talent like Charity and Sarah. They are among the absolute best talents that their generation has produced. I have used some of my made-up power and bluster to guide these girls, as well protecting them. I know that Charity's father hates me and views me as extremely dangerous. He fears that I will lead his daughter to the dark side. I won't. Her father and I fought, because he called me a utilitarian heretic, who would sacrifice proper moral methods for an end result I saw as essential, while I called him a heretic, who could destroy our little sect and its great experiment, by granting that other religions, which offer an easier path, offer the same path to eternal salvation. I don't doubt that he is correct about the multiple paths to salvation. It only makes sense. One true God, many paths. But... those other paths don't preserve our sect, the sect which pursues the dream. I refused to reveal the dream to Charity's father. I will reveal it to all of you now. I also solemnly promise to let Mr. Pavel, it really should be Reverend Pavel - he is one of the best among us, into the secrets. You can tell that I speak the truth."

We all told Harry that every word had been true.

"Here is the big secret: we Hussites have been trying to create more magical humans. When this journey began, only a few of us were only slightly magical, but we saw these emerging talents as a step forward. A way to benefit all of mankind, while protecting ourselves, and learning to better communicate with God. As a biologist, who has made a study both of evolution and of the development of the human brain and intelligent mind, I saw these paranormal skills as the next natural step in the evolutionary improvement of humanity. I didn't know that people as magical as yourselves existed, prior to the last several years. My ancestors didn't know that central Europe contained a few truly magical persons, who were somehow selected for magical training at Durmstrang. They thought the meager talents which we had discovered were unique to members of our sect. We were quite inbred, so it wasn't a strange thing to believe. We sought to use magic for good. There was never anything evil about our deep secrets. They were secret because we were subject to persecution by those who couldn't understand. I've felt somewhat foolish continuing my quest after learning of the strength of your magic. But I persevered, because I believe that our magic is of a different flavor than yours and that they may compliment each other. That's why I wanted a circle in my backyard. I needed an experimental benchmark to tell me how close the best of our sect are to being truly magical. I humbly seek your help. We can share knowledge. We are no threat to you. I am no threat to these girls, their friends, or their families. No threat at all. I would die to protect them. My ESP or magical talents are dwarfed by theirs. I am old. They are the future. It is my job to protect them and nurture their talent."

"All true," I told Harry, after polling my fellow truth-tellers.

"So far, so good," Harry told him. "What about the accusations that you have ordered killings and that you have a crime network which yields great riches to you by preying upon the weak and vulnerable?"

"I have prevented a lot of killing. I have enabled the persecuted to receive as good an education as possible. I do this largely by reputation, bluff, and threat. I am helped by those who have killed. I've halted, or at least reduced, the amount of killing and violence they engage in. I admit that I have a little blood on my hands. So, do all of you. It was largely unavoidable. There is one unfortunate killing, which I regret having strongly suggested. The person was pure evil, but that death is upon my soul. Most of what I achieve is achieved without violence or intimidation - totally peaceful. I have never ordered a killing. I admit that after that one suggested killing, and many edicts from me not to kill or harm individuals under my protection - a very long list of persons who would be in great peril without m protection - some have interpreted my command not to kill A, B, and C as a hint that I wouldn't mind or might even be pleased if D or E were murdered. I have done my best to defeat that view. I also admit that I have directed that certain persons be frightened away from doing things they shouldn't do. Usually that was because those things were wrong, even vile. Sometimes those things only risked exposing me or impeding my work. I have ordered minor physical harm in some of those cases, not many of those cases, but some. I need to do that less and less. My reputation is such that my desires are met, my requests acceded to, with zero violence and not a lot of threat. I can't go around Obliviating dozens of minds to cover a problem, as your Ministry does. I work with what I have. I try to do good. I am ashamed when my actions lead to harm, or even serious discomfort, to an innocent. That grieves me."

"All true," Hermione told Harry.

"Are there any in the Americas who possess strong magic?" Harry abruptly changed course. "Do you represent all of the magicals in the United States or just Hussites with weak magic?"

"I can't claim to represent all of the magicals. We don't have a Ministry like you do. We don't have a way of recruiting young children who display magic and educating them, apart from the few encountered by members of our broader community. I know of nobody with what you would call strong magic, certainly nobody who could out magick a Hogwarts student graduating first year. I have thought about this. There has been little magic of any strength in India or China, yet you had Cho and the Patil sisters at Hogwarts. All three of them display very strong magic. I think environment, rather than genetics, explains this. For some reason, the more magical persons from around the world seem to end up in Britain. I'm sure the Americas have also lost our most magical to your world. I can use your help. Please forgive me. Weakness leads to secret keeping. I wasn't brave or trusting enough to tell you all of this before you pushed me."

"All true," I reported.

"Alright," Harry announced "we brought you here to talk about an awfully specific problem at your school. It is a serious enough problem that I felt the need for this vetting, before giving you the facts. If the vetting had gone poorly, you'd have been sent off to continue doing what you've been doing, with what I'm about to tell you remaining secret, and your mind being purged of knowledge of the cavern. You would still know of the circle and be able to experiment with it. Now, here is everything we have learned today..."

The Bad Dude showed progressively more surprise and worry as the problem was laid out, especially the bit about the drainage tunnel to another time and place. He asked to see Charity's pendant. She willingly put it in his hand.

"Thank you. I just knew this was in your family. I'm incredibly surprised your father didn't have it. I thought he lied about that. I have no idea why his mother distrusted him. He as well as you would have been a worthy steward. I can tell you what I know by rumour and whisper down the centuries: there were thirteen brave, powerful, and influential semi-magical members of a secret society pledged to protect and promote the best of Hus's vision and of greater Hungary and surrounding areas. The numbers on the pendants were not ordered numerically by rank. Some numbers were thought to carry more significance than others. The prime numbers were ranked highly. Seven was an incredibly significant number. It ranked third, so Charity's ancestor was very key to the secret society. My ancestor carried second rank." The Dude pulled a chain and pendant from around his neck and handed it to Charity."

"Number five. Other than that, yours is identical to mine. I must ask you a question, which Harry didn't ask. I believe, and my father believes, that my grandfather was murdered to steal the pendant I carry. Did you have anything to do with that?"

"I promise you, I most certainly did not."

"I know that you speak the truth. I know that these truth-tellers share my view." Charity and The Bad Dude reclaimed their own pendants. "My uncle, is he the one?"

"I've come to distrust him more over the past year and a half. Ambition and greed are his driving forces, but I'd hate to think him capable of patricide. I'm not able to detect lies with any more accuracy than the normal professor, who has heard a lifetime of excuses and lies. You'll have to ask that question yourself. If you want to protect the secret of your talent, perhaps one of these young Witches can do the job for you. Your uncle knows that your grandfather had the same talent as you, so he is primed to suspect you."

The Bad Dude vouched for the older girls, saying that we should meet with them, perhaps not telling them everything - just the basics they needed to do. We all should do our best to help rescue their friend. She had particularly good magical skills and excellent character. She was well worth taking a risk to save - not that he didn't feel that way about each of his students, but her especially.


	73. Chapter 73

**Chapter 73 – Old Europe and Elysium**

It was clear that Hermione and I would have to make the possibly extremely dangerous journey back to a time when they most certainly did burn Witches. It must be through this crumbling old tunnel, trusting an alien technology I didn't understand, to be dumped where and when? Most likely to a time and place which did not welcome strange, young female adventurers. To a people who had already swallowed up one such adventurer. Then to somehow find that lost girl, and carry her home safely. It was a daunting task and I was feeling very daunted.

It was possible that a nonmagical could make this trip, as Allie had done with a pendant which wasn't hers, but if she had lost the pendant could we safely piggy-back her home via the tunnel, as we would side-Apparate one incapable of self Apparation? That was the problem with unknown strange magicks: there was no way to know what would happen until you took the risk and tested them. Fortunately, Hermione and I probably could make the trip through seid-space. Since we had become one with Ancient Yggdrasil, the Yggdrasil of 1413, which I though was the time we were traveling to, would remember or help us. It's past partial amnesia might recur and erase all memory of us, but I thought that a small risk. We could contact it, Apparate to it, enter seid-space, travel the time ribbon forward to our own time and just Apparate back to Hogwarts. That was a strong backup plan. Hermione thought it should be the primary.

I hoped that Allie had lost her pendant. That was the likeliest, and least dangerous, reason she had failed to return. We didn't begin to understand the magical technology of the pendant or the tunnel. It was a shock to think that Central Europeans were ever this magical, in a magical engineering sort of way. Perhaps Viktor could find something in the Durmstrang library which could explain the tunnel. I Stone-contacted him and explained the problem. He promised that he would set everything else aside to search for any reference to this sort of magical technology, but admitted he had never heard of such a thing. Perhaps we were dealing with a special sort of portkey. A tunnel could be a portkey, couldn't it. But a normal portkey didn't move one in time. Viktor was both intrigued and totally stumped.

What sort of tunnel could connect 1413 to the Hussite College of our time. In 1413, Hussite College didn't even exist and the drainage tunnel, and whatever magical technology surrounded it, hadn't been constructed. Was it worth risking our lives on such an unlikely technology, in order to attempt to find a lost girl, who might already be dead? Our husbands would not thank us for taking this risk. I knew for certain that we could seid-Apparate Allie using our own magical skills and Yggdrasil technology. I give that as the context for our meeting with the older girls. Without question we would be begged to retrieve Allie.

We met in The Dude's, or Meister John's, office - whatever name one wanted to call him by. It was the four of us, plus Charity and Sarah, The Dude, and the three older girls: Lisa, Lesley, and Ashley. The Dude began the meeting: "the pendant that you found upon Charity's neck is her own. It has been in her family for generations. I know the story and can personally vouch for its truth. I've been searching for the owner of that pendant among the members of Charity's family for the past seven years. The pendants are dangerous magic, which is beyond your understanding. Allie messed with something too dangerous for her to control. She apparently fell victim to her own stupidity. It is NOT Charity's fault in any way. Allie and you should have told me immediately as soon as you discovered the tunnel and especially the pendant. We take our early history very seriously and you messed with the archeologist's ability to properly document it. When Allie travelled in time and space, that must have been both startling and scary. Each of you had an absolute duty to report to me. I blame each of you for what happened to Allie. You then kept the secret for days, after Allie vanished. You must have known she was in trouble and extreme danger, yet you said nothing to me or to your Principal. That is beyond irresponsibly reckless. It is criminal. And you have the temerity to blame and assault a first year, for something that is clearly your fault. I will consider what to do with you. Expulsion with no recommendations is a distinct possibility. For now, our primary attention must be upon rescuing Allie. Even if you had stolen Charity's property, I have zero confidence that you were capable of rescuing Allie. Far more likely that I would have another missing girl to deal with and one less pendant to help in that rescue. Do you understand what I have said?"

"Yes, and we are very sorry," Ashley told him. The other girls also expressed their contrition and apologised to Charity, as well as to The Dude.

I was incredibly surprised when Charity confronted Ashley, demanding: "then I want my cat back. I know that you took Prometheus hostage to force me to give you my pendant. I don't think we should help you, until you return Prometheus."

"How can you possibly help," Ashley dismissed her. "No Prometheus until our friend is home safe."

The Dude shouted: "Do you want to be expelled right this instant? You will return Miss Pavel's cat right NOW!

"I'm sorry, I can't. Prometheus was loud and I was afraid it would give us away. I killed it."

Charity burst into tears, weeping into her folded arms, as she lay her head upon The Dude's desk. Ashley looked as though she found the awkwardness uncomfortable, but I wasn't sensing a lot of guilt from her. Sarah and I did our best to comfort Charity, but the turmoil around us didn't help.

"You are a monstrous person," Hermione accused, pointing her finger at Ashley. "What kind of person would murder a girl's pet cat?"

"Allie is a lot more important than her cat," Ashley was defiant. "We did what we had to do to save our friend."

"No, you did it," Lisa objected. "There is no 'we' in this. Neither of us were with you when you stole her pet. Neither of us were with you when you killed it! Neither of us would harm a cat. That's gross and twisted." Leslie nodded agreement.

"You don't even seem sorry about murdering a cat," Hermione charged.

"I was very angry that she wouldn't help save Allie. I did what I felt I had to do. The cat wasn't important. I'm sorry that the cat is dead, but I'm not sorry that I took her as hostage. If Charity didn't give us the pendant, then Allie was lost."

"You lied," Hermione accused. "You aren't sorry. You aren't sorry at all. You could have gone to Meister John when Allie vanished, but you chose not to. You're sick in the head. The sort of twisted person who grows up to hurt or murder people. Every mass murderer began like this. You are abhorrent!"

Now Ashley was crying. Her behavior had been terrible, but I thought Hermione had been too hard on her. The Dude apparently did not feel a need to comfort Ashley. Lisa and Lesley had moved their seats farther from Ashley and made no attempt to defend or to comfort her. Ashley spoke: "I couldn't afford to get in trouble over that. I might lose the chance to direct the class play. Finding Allie ourselves was the only way." She lapsed into silence. I had a very low opinion of the girl, but her next comment still caught me by surprise.

"Alright, I'll buy another fucking cat for the little brat, but doesn't anybody care about rescuing Allie? She's my best friend."

"For your information, Miss Unger, these highly magical young women, who are friends of mine and the only among us with any chance of saving Allie, came to this office planning to do what they can. Charity and I offered them our own pendants to use in that endeavour. I fear you have queered that deal. I wouldn't blame Charity if she refused the use of her pendant and I can't ask one of these brave Witches to undertake the risk of a solo rescue. It is up to them and Charity, whether an attempt is made to rescue Allie. Allie might already be safe if you had come to me as soon as she disappeared. I do blame you."

"I can't be the reason Allie isn't rescued. My father will pay all of you very well to rescue her."

Harry was ready to respond, but Charity raised her head from the desk. "I'm still willing to give Ginny my medallion if she is still willing to try to rescue Allie. I know it may be lost." Head back on table, although no longer crying.

"My wife does not run deadly risks for money. We have plenty of money. Your offer is an insult. I'm not at all sure she can do this as safely as she thinks she can. This is a time and place where young women did not go around adventuring. They certainly didn't do this unescorted. This was also a time of great tension, from what you have all said. Strangers would automatically be suspect, especially snoopy strangers. This will be a difficult and dangerous rescue, with a not great chance of success. Ginny and Hermione can't do it alone and we only have two pendants. Yggdrasil may be fine for returning home, but the pendant is the only chance of traveling to the same time and place that Allie did. I am not happy with this. The involvement of someone with as poor a character and trustworthiness as Ashley, makes me feel even more opposed to this."

"I apologise for insulting you. My father uses detectives and he pays them. I thought I owed you the same. I don't want to be the reason Allie is lost. I really will do anything you ask if you try to rescue her. I want to participate. I'll travel with you. I understand Allie. You don't. If I see what she saw, I can make a good guess what she would do. Please let me help."

"I'm willing to try to rescue Allie," I told her. "It's more than a little frightening, because the tunnel and pendant are strange magic, which I don't understand. I don't know whether the pendant will only work for specific persons; I don't know if I could take anybody piggy-back, even Allie, if she's lost her pendent. I think I might have an alternate path home, if needed, but I will have to test that. We need to get proper clothes for that time in Hungary. We need a male escort, so we need another pendant. We'll move quickly, but preparations are needed. I can learn languages quickly. I see the value of someone who understands Allie, but I won't accept you. Someone who attacks a first year and murders her cat can never be trusted. I'll consider taking Lisa. She's the most magical of the three of you. That's the best I'm willing to do for you. It's possible I can teach at least one of the languages to Lisa. If so, I'll consider taking her. Meanwhile, all of you must stay where my friends can keep a constant eye on you. That's for everyone's safety."

The girls agreed. We got pictures of Allie. Charity found two in their shared dorm room. The Dude obtained two others from the Principal. Cissy would Witch paint small portraits, which we could use to ask people if they had seen Allie. Lisa told Cissy what Allie had been wearing when she disappeared. It was a cobbled together outfit they had made from thrift shop purchases and theft from the local museum. It was supposed to look very modest, plain, and antique.

I felt Lisa might be of help. The Dude vouched for her basic character, when she wasn't being a brat, who was too eager to seek Ashley's approval. He said that she did show real paranormal talent. He promised us two more pendants within a day. As, I suppose encouragement, The Dude suggested that we could always Obliviate Lisa, along with Ashley, if it came to that. Harry agreed to allow Lisa to return to the Hogwarts pyramid with us and to be introduced to our Stone. Our Stone accepted her and taught her the necessary languages, along with the rest of us. In addition to vintage Hungarian, Hermione felt we needed Latin. vintage Czech, and the old Germanic dialect from the Husia principality of what is now Germany. "Hus wasn't Hungarian, although it's possible some of his close supporters were. His adult life was centered in Prague. The part of Czechoslovakia where he was born was then part of Bohemia. That's why so many languages. Latin, of course, was the scholarly language of the time. Hus was a professor in Prague. Hermioned believe that is where the tunnel will take us. I didn't argue.

Ron would come with us. Minister Harry couldn't take such a big risk. He didn't think I should either. I told him "think of this as Quest. It really is part of our Quest to America."

We whipped up costumes for the four of us. They were totally time authentic. Hermione told us more of her research, as we helped seamstress Witches craft our costumes. "Here is a picture of Hus. Memorise it. We might meet him. We might have an English in. Hus was a follower of Wycliffe, who was a major Catholic reformer who taught at Oxford. We must ask Harry to have some of his aurors midnight shop for Wycliffe memorabilia, which might help to establish our bona fides. Start at Merton College. I think we will arrive in Prague between 1410 and 1412, not 1413. Here is a picture of the New Jerusalem chapel. I think that is where we must go."

That night I read all the research, which Hermione had found and printed out on her computer. What I read disturbed me. I thought we were traveling into a far more recent past than 1412 and that we were not headed to Prague. We were bound for about 1722 and for a place called Berthelsdorf. The name "the hidden seed" for a small group of dissident stragglers who maintained the Hussite religion caught my attention. What really caught my attention is that the noble on whose estate they stayed was the founder of the community where Hussite College is located. I woke Harry, telling him my fear that our clothing would be three centuries out of date. Harry said he'd wake the seamstress Witches if new clothes were needed, but that it was dangerous to further delay our journey - dangerous for Allie. "Before I put on my Minister hat, and I think I will have to do so, and make emergency necessaries for your trip, please contact Hermione and get her view of your theory. She's rarely wrong, but I think she just might be."

Hermione admitted "I may have been too blinkered in my focus upon the time of Jan Hus. We should prepare for both destinations. The Dude can get us the necessary artefacts from Hussite College. It'll be good, whichever destination is correct. Magic seamstresses can work extremely fast and we had our second set of clothes and accessories by the time we had to depart for America.

We all returned to the Hussite Cavern to meet with The Dude and get the additional pendants. The Dude had three more pendants for us. I told everyone my plan: "I don't want to risk more of us than necessary. I'm am not sure that we can bring Allie back through the tunnel. That means an alternate escape route is needed. Ron, Hermione, and I will make a quick trip through the tunnel to determine as exactly as possible what time and place it has dumped us into and to test an alternate escape route. We should be gone no more than six hours. If we aren't back by then, Barb and Wood will come searching. Not great, but the best plan I've got."

Ron carried the magical force viewer, which Odin had gifted me. He was first into the tunnel. As we approached 'the point,' Ron announced that he saw the telltale pink glow of magic. "Right ahead of us. "A circle all around the tunnel. It's strong. It brightens farther along. The whole, whatever it is, is about ten feet long. I'll stow the viewer. Do you want me to keep moving ahead to find out what happens?"

"Yes, but don't move far if the tunnel Apparates you. If you can stay in the shelter of a tunnel or bridge, while leaving enough space for Hermione and me, that's what you do. If we are somehow unable to follow you, I still want you to give us a day before you move from shelter. Your first move should be to reverse course in the tunnel. Do that EXACTLY twenty-four hours from now. We'll make sure the tunnel is clear at that time. If you don't show up within an hour of that time, we'll come searching for you. Give us another twelve hours, before you risk being seen."

"Sounds overly complicated, but I promise to do that. Ron walked ahead and... just vanished. Hermione followed - same deal. I gave her a minute to clear the transfer spot and then followed her.

It was instantly clear that we were not in Prague. Hermione had thought we would come in under the bridge linking the old and new Prague. We were in the country. A manor house lay ahead of us. There was a wall, but the gate was open. A man was at the gate. I started to change into my early eighteenth-century clothes, as I reached for Yggdrasil. It wasn't easy, but I made contact. Yes, it remembered me from long ago in its past. Yes, I had helped it and it would help me. If I needed it to suck me into its parlour and use it to enter seid-space, that was perfectly fine.

Hermione had already changed her garb. She admitted "you were right. Allie is likely with the Count. I think we Apparate to the gate and just 'Off!' anyone we encounter, until we find the count. Hopefully, that will give us Allie."

I agreed. "Best to act now, rather than go back for Lisa. I contacted Yggdrasil. We can return home through it, if necessary."

We Apparated to the gate. There were two men talking to each other - one had been hidden by a tree and the wall. They had barely turned to face us before we dropped them. We hid both between tree and wall. Four persons were working in a tilled field. Nobody else between us and the front door. We Apparated to the field and quickly dropped the four farm workers. We Apparated them to the shade of the tree, then ourselves to the front door. Bang on the knocker. A servant arrives. "Is the Count at home?"

"Why do you want to see him?"

I show the pendant, not allowing him to take it. I display both sides.

"The Count is in his study. I will inquire whether he wishes to speak to you. Wait right where you are."

The door was about to be closed in our faces. "Off!"

We could find the study by ourselves. Ron was left hidden in a spot from which he could guard both the stairway and this door. Hermione and I went in search of the Count's study. We found the sitting room and the dining room, then a locked door that likely was the study. We summoned Ron, not knowing how many enemies might be on the other side of the door. We heard talking, so somebody was there.

"Alohomora!" Ron had his wand in this right hand as his left turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. "Off!

"He had a pistol pointed at me - got him just in time."

Hermione and I entered the room. Allie was seated across from the Count, hands tied to the arms of her chair. Hermione had plastic ties, like the ones the British police use as fast handcuffs. She secured the Count's hands behind his back, propped him awkwardly in his chair, and searched his pockets. He had no other weapons. He did have a pendant on a chain around his neck. He was 'Eleven'. Not knowing what other powers it might possess, I took the chain and pendant, hiding them in one of the hidden pockets sewn into my costume.

We assured Allie that we were the rescue party, as we untied her. Her feet also were tied to the legs of the chair. Ron dealt with that. "What happened," Hermione asked. "Did you lose your pendant?"

"Nope, stupidly walked right up to the house and was captured. He has my pendant in the center drawer of his desk."

I grabbed it and handed it to her, then asked Ron to reverse his curse. Hermione relocked the door. We stared across the desk at a very startled Count. "It's not nice to kidnap girls and tie them to chairs," I told the Count. "Explain yourself...please."

"She had a medallion but is not one of the authorised holders. I thought she had killed one of my allies. She claims to be from the future, to have found the medallion by chance, and come here through the drainage culvert. It only connects to the New Jerusalem Chapel of centuries ago. It hasn't worked in at least a decade. That's how I know she is lying. She showed extraordinarily little magical ability. If she were really from the distant future, she should be far more magical. Surely our great experiment has yielded better than her!"

"It takes a source of magical energy to be magical. I assure you she really is from the future. My friends and I are far more magical than she is, however. A wand also increases magical ability." I pointed my wand and lifted him as well as his chair, until his head was just short of the ceiling. Unfortunately, he shifted his position and dumped out of the chair toward the floor. I moved the chair away and carefully lowered it, relying upon Ron and Hermione to break his fall, which they did.

"Convinced yet?" Hermione asked, as she pointed her wand at his desk and turned it into a great pile of bundled newspapers. She cut open one bundle and extracted a paper, shoving it under his nose. "See, you can read what is happening in England over two hundred years in the future.

"I believe! Are you members of the society."

"No, we are not descendants of 'the thirteen' or even of the 'hidden seed', as far as I know. My brother, Hermione, and I are part of the magical community of Great Britain. My husband is the Minister for Magic of our community. We have come to retrieve your prisoner."

"I wouldn't have harmed her. I just needed to find out what she is about. If she were a spy for the government, we would all be lost."

"She is from the future. She is a student at a Hussite school in the community, which you will establish in the colony of Pennsylvania. Right here." Hermione pointed at a hand drawn map. It didn't show much. I saw Philadelphia, New York City, the Delaware and Lenape rivers, and the not-so-tall hills the locals call South Mountain. "You must purchase the land from the Penn family, and you must be very nice to the natives."

We showed the Count the artefacts we had brought, both from Hus's time in Prague and from New Jerusalem. I showed him the Wycliffe items I had brought to show to the thirteen, had we ended up in Prague. Hermione freed his hands so he could study all the items.

"I'm convinced. Some of these items are my property. One of the items is in this desk." He reached for a bottom drawer.

"Stop! The same item can't be here twice. You can check after we leave. I must take all the items back - they were borrowed from museums and they will be missed. About your tunnel culvert. I wouldn't try to use it. It seems to be getting power from the tunnel in New Jerusalem. It won't take you to Prague. We'll take a different path back home. You really could die if you try to use the tunnel. It will only take you to New Jerusalem if it takes your living body anywhere. We will guard the tunnel at our end, and we won't be pleased to see a drop-in guest. If you come, you had better be seeking help in a truly dire emergency. You may keep your medallion. We call it a pendant." I returned it to his hand.

"You have four medallions among yourselves. Does that mean our secret society survives?"

"It's descendants live and possess at least some of the medallions. Some work on your sect's great experiment in perfecting paranormal humans. The leader of the current council gave us four medallions, so that we could rescue Allie, in case she had lost hers. Now we really must go. We left your servants and farmers in a magical sleep. They will awaken in about twenty hours. Care for them, while they sleep. You must have had a magical circle here, which powered your end of the tunnel. Where is it?"

"There are stairs to it, hidden in my wine cellar. I've been down there. The circle still stands, but it no longer works."

"Show us."

We had to 'Off!' another servant on our way to the wine cellar. Two large kegs of wine shifted aside to reveal narrow stair. "You first, Hold this." Ron handed him a wand, with a most impressive Lumos! glow. We only had to go down twenty treacherous stone steps to find ourselves in what was clearly an artificial cavern. We were on a walkway, perhaps eight feet above the floor of the cavern and six feet from its ceiling. There were stairs down. We took them.

The circle seemed in reasonably good shape. I'm certain Hermione and I could have restarted it. Should we? "How did you learn to build this circle and your magical tunnel to Prague?"

The knowledge was passed down from 'The 13'. Legend has it that it was a gift from two very strange angels."

"Strange, how?"

"They lacked wings, didn't glow, and weren't tall and thin."

"A rather confining view of angels," Hermione mused. "Were they actually short, squat, and heavily muscled, with round faces?"

"Yes, they were. I have a drawing, back in my study. It has been passed down the generations."

We decided not to restart the circle. That was something Hermione's committee should decide. We could return to this circle, if the committee decided that was the best thing to do. This wasn't my decision to make as the Mother. We returned to the Count's study. He went to a cabinet and removed a false back, withdrawing a highly polished wooden box. He withdrew a charcoal on parchment drawing, carefully lying it upon the surface of his desk.

"That's certainly a Veneran," Hermione gasped. "They've been here seven hundred years ago. Did they visit your sect more recently?"

"Not that I am aware of. It was not one like that who helped me to build the device around my drainage culvert."

"What did that person look like?"

"Very much like me or you. She was a female."

Hermione pulled out a Witch painting of Frijjo. "That's her!"

How astonishing! We just kept re-meeting old adversaries in unexpected places. "One last question. The original tunnel in the New Jerusalem Chapel in Prague - what time and place did it connect to?"

"A cave with a spring and a partially water-filled tunnel in old Jerusalem. That path no longer works, either."

"Thank you!" I shook his hand, then joined hands with Allie and my two companions. I reached for Yggdrasil and we were gone. We took the seid-space ribbon back to our own time, but on Asgard. Modern Yggdrasil and our own Black Stone saw us back to the Hogwarts pyramid. We rested, ate, and drank to fortify ourselves for the final Apparate to Calvert College, at the mouth of the drainage tunnel."

"Thanks for volunteering to help," I told Lisa, but we were able to find Allie right away. She hadn't lost her pendant but was captured by the founder of New Jerusalem. He gave us a couple of keepsakes from his time and his collection of historical Hussite items."

We kept just two items as keepsakes of the Count. One was important: the drawing of the Veneran. The other was just a letter he wrote to Harry. We decided th at Lisa and Allie could be trusted with their memories. We had truth told them when they pledged to keep these new secrets 'forever'. The Dude strongly vouched for them.

Lesley was honest: "I mean you no harm and sincerely wish to keep your secret, but I know myself well enough to know that I will blab it before very long. I'm a writer. I will have to tell this story. I'd call it fiction, but…"

We told her to do her best. "We trust your good intention and hope that joining us as allies will give you the strength to protect our secrets. You must also be an ally of Charity." This was over-stepping bounds and I avoided glancing at Harry as I said this. Harry messaged me saying he wasn't happy but would trust my judgment. I knew that being right about the outlet time and place of the tunnel had tipped the scales in my favor.

Ashley was a different story. She was still pouting that Lisa was trusted to travel with us, but she was not. We did a nice, polite, limited Obliviation. It helped that she believed us when we said there would be fewer lost memories and no damage to her mind, if she cooperated and willingly surfaced the memories we wished to delete. We left her with a made up back story of our presence and her killing of Prometheus. She wouldn't remember the drainage tunnel, or the attack upon Charity, or the disappearance of Allie.

The Dude expelled her for vindictively murdering the innocent pet of a younger girl whom she had taken a dislike to. Case closed. Lisa and Lesley hugged her goodbye, wished her well, but I noticed that they made no promises to stay in touch. I sensed that they were both repulsed by the cat killing. When Ashley returned to her room to pack, they hugged Charity.

We headed home. Three days with Harry, then I was off for another three weeks on Elysium. Most of the team had the same experience that Hermione and I had experienced along with the first wave of Questers and their partners. That group stayed in the same village and had the same Elysium hosts who greeted us and made our stay so delightful. Odin had something different planned for Hermione, Cho, Cissy, and I this time. We had been identified as future leaders of our people, who would benefit from further exposure to the cultures of other worlds. We would spend a week each at villages hosting Aesir, Vanir, and Venerans. We needn't worry about our safety. The representatives we would meet had been chosen for their contribution to the arts, science, religious, justice, and peace. There would be no warriors or royals or politicians seeking to rule their own or other worlds. We would be the only sort-of warrior's present, but were invited because of our roles as religious leaders, healers, and selfless Questers. We hadn't previously met the finer examples of their cultures. We were meeting only with females from the other worlds. Logic said that half of the Aesir must be female, but we had met almost none of them. That was a point which I intended to explore. I would have the opportunity immediately, since the village hosting the Aesir would be our first stop. Odin would have absolutely no involvement with any of us during this week.

The first surprise was that unlike our initial three weeks on Elysium, the guest population in this village was extremely sparse. Only four of the cottages were in use. I was rooming with Cissy, while Hermione bunked with Cho. Our hostess explained that she expected that splitting Hermione and me would lead to increased interaction with the Aesir and less instant interpretation based upon our more unfortunate prior experiences with Aesir males. I asked our hostess if I could add two other priestesses to our group, explaining that had I been fully aware from the start of the nature of these three weeks, I would have asked to include them from the beginning. She asked for names.

"Victoria Malfoy. She's our oldest priestess and Ostara Longbottom, she's the worship leader at our Light Guardian church."

I was given permission to send for them, but there was a schedule and the meet and greet would begin in fifty-one of our minutes. Apparently the Aesir decided that they also must add two more participants, because both sides had six members as we entered the dining hall to greet each other. The Aesir group had two Light Guardian head priestesses, one from the group who had stayed on Aesir and one from the returners. Apparently, I was paired with the returner high priestess and Hermione with her counterpart. The other Aesir included a magical physician and a judge from the returners and a member of the governing council and a rancher from the remainders. They were all pleasant enough, seemed interested in getting to know us, told no lies, and appeared, at least superficially to be likely allies. The next week would sort things out to a great degree. I realised I was cast in the role of diplomat for this, and the next two, weeks.

Hermione's priestess addressed both of us: "I understand that Odin has given each of you a significant parcel of land on this world, including the sacred pyramid. I've noticed that you've spent little time here and that your land is largely lying fallow, except for the grazing unicorns. You are certainly welcome to live amongst us, if only part-time, but with the arrival of the returnees, land is not in as great surplus as it had been. You set a poor example letting your lands just sit there."

"I know," I tried to make my voice as apologetic as I felt. "We've still been on Quest. These last three weeks on Elysium conclude our Quest. We had to take a bigger gap between trips than intended for an emergency Quest stop in another nation on our world, one we've had little prior contact with. Harry, he's my husband and our Minister for Magic, is moving a dozen families who have run afoul of our local nonmagical governments and are no longer safe on our world. I hope that they will also be welcome to live here. Most, but not all, are magical. They are peaceful families caught up in politics."

"They are welcome to take sanctuary here on your property," the returner priestess answered, before the other head priestess had gathered her thoughts to speak. They will not begin as citizens of this world and will be expected to stay out of our politics. They, as you, are more than welcome to attend our Light Guardian Temple. We recognise both of your statuses as Mother and Muse. Those are incredibly significant titles in our religion and the Light Guardian has vouched for you and said that you are supposed to be respected by all who revere it."

That caught my attention. I think I gulped. "When did you speak to the Light Guardian?"

"It came to our new home three years ago and told us of you. It said you might Quest to our world. My priestesses would welcome that."

I took the opportunity to introduce Victoria, Ostara, and Cissy as priestesses. Cho commented "I consider myself almost a priestess and wish to complete the process of becoming one. I didn't meet the Light Guardian, but I have been one with Yggdrasil and the Black Stone on our world. I'm starting a Light Guardian chapel at Durmstrang and a handful of students and faculty have already become members. I fervently wish to lay aside fighting, as well as Questing, to fully explore my spiritual side."

My week with the Aesir went well. I had one slap-aside-the-head moment when the Aesir spoke of what I called the pyramid-between-worlds as the Asgard pyramid and Black Stone. It struck me as blinding truth just as soon as the high priestess for the Aesir remainers politely requested permission to use their Black Stone and pyramid for worship, noting the problem of the pyramid being on my land and there not having the permissions needed to enter the pyramid. Of course! We entered the pyramid by walking through our Black Stone. The physical pyramid set upon Asgard. How stupid could I be.

I told both groups that I had ignorantly not thought of the pyramid in that way. Of course, they must have free access to it. As soon as we all returned home from this idyll, I would change the access permissions to allow both the remainer and returner high priestesses to have unfettered access to the pyramid. I asked if they sought an arrangement like the Keepers of the Great Black Stone on Vanaheimer. As a matter of fact, that is exactly what they wanted. They knew that Odin feared difficulties, possibly even open conflict, but they had met among themselves and decided that they must merge into one holy order of the pyramid. I said that of course they had my permission to establish a permanent presence of religious Keepers within the pyramid. I confessed that I found it outrageous that my permission would even be needed.

The returner high priestess mildly said "I hate to be pushy, but some among the faithful and many priestesses view the siting of a warehouse up against the pyramid as a degradation of the holiness of the pyramid and the Black Stone. We know that you didn't authorise or build the warehouse, but you are now its owner. It would be a blessing from the Mother to our order, if you tore down that monstrosity."

I pleaded lack of time now but told them that they certainly had my permission to tear it down themselves and replace it with a Light Guardian temple. I would grant them five acres around the pyramid as a holy district, which they would own. The pyramid would belong to the people of Asgard. They were welcome to build a path from the edge of Hermione's and my properties to the holy district. This announcement led to hugs all around and pledges of sisterly solidarity in the path of the Light Guardian. The remaining three days of the week were spent on Asgard. Our team attended services in both Light Guardian temples. We were introduced and asked to offer prayers, which we did. A joint religious service was held on the floor of the pyramid. The entry permissions were changes and the transfer of land ownership was executed.

Odin was dubious that I had acted wisely but supported my action and personally witnessed the deed modifications. "I chose you as my successors; I must accept your effort to establish positive relationships with my people. It appears that the religious community fully accepts your presence. When Loki committed such grave offences, causing his land to be seized, after his death, I should have done what you just did. Shame on me."

Lodging with Cissy was drawing me closer to her. I was overly impressed by both her growing maturity and to her obviously deeply felt commitment to be a servant to all magical communities who peacefully abided by the Covenant. Of all the Questers, apart from myself, and perhaps Hermione, Cissy was the most comfortable around the spiders and all the other non-human magical beings. This said a lot for her character. She also was willing to look beyond our negative encounters with the Vanir and Venerans to see the goodness of the peaceful religious and artistic delegations from those worlds, who met with us during the next two weeks of our time on Elysium.

Our weeks with the Vanir and Venerans were a combination of female diplomacy and religious meeting. The Vanir delegation comprised two old friends from the Keeper of the Great Black Stone, and two Keepers from the Temple in Village Vana. They had already made progress towards peace and accommodation between themselves. Both factions wanted to use this week to finalize that cooperative peace. I think that they succeeded in that goal. The priestesses from the Village Vana also went a long way toward establishing a peace with us. As with the Aesir, we found that our views of the Light Guardian and proper religious observance did not differ greatly. We learned that we all sought peace; all wanted sincere compliance with the Covenant to be front and center on our worlds and in the hearts of those who governed us. There had been misunderstandings all around between our peoples. It was up to us to assist the diplomats in bridging the gap. As with the Aesir, we spent the last days of the week on the worlds of the Vanir and Venerans. We attended religious services in the Village Vana temple, as well as around The Great Black Stone. We agreed to ask Yggdrasil and Odin to approve the reawakening of the mini Black Stone in the Village Vana temple.

The Veneran delegation asked very pointedly: "did you know that Odin made an appearance and killed the Supreme Leader, the new Battle Leader, and the former head priestess?"

I quickly gave the honest, but perhaps undiplomatic answer "no, I hadn't been told that, but it doesn't sadden me in the least. We were becoming as angry about the offensive actions against our world as Odin was about the attacks upon the Aesir in seid-space and collusion with his enemies. Are you actually upset about that?"

They assured me that those individuals had met the fate that they deserved and that the Veneran people were happier with their new leadership, but... hadn't Odin made his point? Didn't it make sense to give the new government a chance and restore their Black Stone to at least partial activity?" I promised to plead their case to Odin. Two days later, I was able to report that Odin had restored everything but seid-space access to the Veneran Black Stone. The Veneran delegation thanked me and our meetings went very smoothly after that.

We were surprised by a request from our hosts to extend our stay on Elysium by two days. The hosts thought the three weeks had been so successful that they wanted to quickly follow up with two days of diplomacy. I contacted Harry. He agreed that he, Percy, Callista, Victor, and Tony would attend. I told him that this was a larger conference than that. It was a reaffirmation of the Covenant and a mutual commitment to peace. He must bring representatives of as many communities as possible: the various human magical communities and the leaders of the Acromantula, Elves, Goblins, Centaurs, Unicorns, Nymphs, Merpeople, Cetaceans, Giants, and Trolls. Even Secretary Afshar must be included, along with The Dude, Little Baal, the leaders of the other magical communities, Scathach, Brighid, and the Norwegian Prime Minister. The heads of the magical schools should also be included.

"You don't ask for much!" Harry sarcastically complained.

Percy and Callista did well. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Cissy, Ostara, and I helped. Odin also helped. I think his announcement that he would be leaving us within just a few months, to join the spirit realm, helped to push the group toward acceptance of peace. I was surprised that one of the friendly Dark Gods attended and that he agreed the Covenant, on behalf of the four remaining Dark Gods. Our hosts announced a major feast on the morrow, to celebrate the universal rededication to the Covenant.

It was a wonderful feast: all sorts of delicious vegetarian food, great music, dancing, camaraderie, and then... a band and a suddenly brightening light... and the Light Guardian was standing before us, moving through a number of different appearances from Great Goblin, to Archangel, golden dolphin, silver Unicorn, and many others I didn't recognising, before fixing on a solid ball of light. The Light Guardian announced that Hermione and I were the true Muse and Mother and the acceptable chosen successors to Odin. Our Quest was over, having accomplished everything the Light Guardian could have expected, apart from the liberation of Slytherin, for which we were blameless and those who accidentally ordered the unfortunate events were Godly innocents who had been deceived by evildoers on the dark side. Hermione and I would be Muse and Mother for the duration of our lives and were authorised to declare a new Quest for ourselves or others, if a desperate need arose. The Light Guardian applauded the first return to universal acceptance of the Covenant and complete peace in millennial. It said we should know that the competing Quest was invalid, undertaken for bad reasons, and must not be resumed. There was no magic sword as a reward for a successful Quest. A great reward had been promised and the Questers had already received it: knowledge, new friendships, a testing of our souls, the opportunity to live in peace and harmony with other thinking creatures, and the approval of itself. It admitted a past error which was now rectified: history could no longer be retroactively changed in seid-space. All that had happened was frozen in place forever. All of those assembled were to be heartily congratulated. While peace and cooperation are extremely good, they are not easy to achieve or maintain. We were all responsible for maintaining what we had achieved. With a booming "Good Luck!" the Light Guardian was gone.

Few ever had the chance to meet the Light Guardian. I had been privileged to share that experience with my closest friends twice. I never directly heard the Light Guardian say it in so many words, but I was totally certain that the hosts of Elysium were to be trusted... completely.

Hugs all around, including the strange warm tingly hugs between the substantial and the merely spirit beings, such as the hosts of Elysium, the Dark God and, I was surprised to realise, the newly noncorporeal Odin. As Odin spirit-hugged me he told me "you don't need me anymore, but if you need me, I'm here. Just blow three times on the whistle I gave you.

As we were saying final goodbyes, Dik and King Gobbledygook approached us for final hugs. They whispered, in their own tongues, the exact same message: "See – the ancient legends and prophecies were largely correct. Belief is important!" Perhaps they had believed more than I had. I was still skeptic enough to regard the ancient legends and prophecies as not much more right than wrong. On that note, the final person to hug me was Professor Trelawney. She thanked me for including her in the final event, after allowing her to join the main body for the final three weeks on Elysium. Her whispered words were "The Light Guardian - Mother would be so proud. Don't be upset, but I've chosen to stay here. Nothing left for me at Hogwarts. I will ponder the great thoughts. Perhaps we will meet again."

I received one final whispered message, as we ended our journey home in my backyard. Hermione leaned in and whispered in my ear: "I find that I too am pregnant. We can be new mothers together. It only seems fitting."


	74. Chapter 74

**Epilogue - A Coven Of Our Own**

A Coven is a community of like-minded Witches, who support and protect each other as they raise their families. It is a nurturing place. With the Quest over and all of us having experienced Elysium, we had made a pact: we would fall pregnant at the same time, raise our young families together so the children could forge strong, healthy friendships, and we Witches could step out from our coven to build the world we wanted. We agreed that without more Witches having a greater number of kids, the larger magical community of Britain could not be stable. The problem of declining numbers had been solved by the greater influx of newly magical Britons, but there was a need for a core, steeped in the traditions of magic. When I write that, I fear that I sound like the old Wizarding aristocrats who hated and spurned what they called the Muggle-born. That's not the case. Most of us fought against that and the rest of us came to recognize that this attitude was wrong. Our coven included magical Witches whose parents were nonmagical Britons, including, of course, Hermione who was the co-founder. It also included Britons who found magical talent as young adults, even as mothers. We were a very diverse group of Witches, including older Witches like my and Hermione's mothers, Professor McGonagall, and a half dozen elderly widows.

Ours was a unique coven. It was located in the burgeoning Potter's Forest, which expanded from the land the Montaigne formerly known as Lord had deeded to Harry. Since this land also included the Goblin and Elf sanctuaries, our coven included Goblins and Elves. That was unique in all of time. We counted the daughter of a King, since Tendra had joined us after her Hogwarts graduation. Since Cissy was a key member of the coven, more of the Montaigne forest lands were added to both Potter's Forest and the two sanctuaries. She wasn't the only young Witch. Margaret and Alice also belonged. Cissy lived with Alice and Henry and had even managed to have a daughter, now four years old, with Alice, in her transformed male version, with an assist from Henry.

We had our own school for children aged four through ten. This was part of McGonagall's educational reform plan, but I had fought hard to create our little school - I didn't want my children not to know about Shakespeare, or Milton, or Joyce, or Malamud, whose writing I had taken a liking to. Our children couldn't fit into the larger world, if they had no knowledge of its culture. Sean, who had given me such a strong feeling of intellectual inferiority, taught at our school for five years, after graduating Oxford. Hermione's father and a middle-aged Witch from America taught science and maths. Of course, our little church in Hogsmeade played a big role in the life of our coven.

Implementing our little school had brought me closer to McGonagall. We shared a sense of importance in the project. We shared some of the Quest adventure. She credited me with recognizing her mental deterioration and setting her back on track with charging oval rejuvenations. She was still the McGonagall of twenty years ago. She told me with great pride that her grandniece Iona Sparks would be attending Hogwarts this year. She was the only child of the current Sparks wandmaker and the family had decided that she should become the next family wandmaker, a role that McGonagall had wanted herself. Although she realized that she had accomplished far more than she would have as a wandmaker, McGonagall felt enormous pride that her family would produce the first Witch wandmaker in three centuries. It might seem premature that a young Witch who had not even set foot inside Hogwarts would already have this life path decided, but Iona had been tested: she could see the magical force lines, she was adept with the wand, and the wand which chose her had a Phoenix core - McGonagall viewed that as very auspicious. Apparently true had once dreamt something about that. McGonagall confessed to missing Trew. "My own damned fault that I must spend my declining years alone. She and Neville were great friends. She had supported him for re-election as headmaster, deciding she'd rather just teach than take that job. The three of us got together for mid-afternoon tea in my kitchen at least every third week.

"

The support of our fellow coven members allowed the Witches with children to also play a role in the outside world. Adrienne, Ostara, Luna, and I led services at our church in Hogsmeade, as well as our new church in Godric's Hollow. Actually, this was the old church, which Margaret's family attended, but it had become surplus to the Church of England and we had purchased it. Of course, despite having three children, the support of fellow coven members allowed Hermione to succeed Harry as Minister For Magic. We had made our own coven and we enjoyed an excellent life within it. We had done so for the past eleven years. Now Hermione and I were about to become parents of a Hogwarts student. I needed a talk with Harry about what that meant, what I worried about.

"I was talking to Hermione this morning – it's just six months until Frederick James and Rose start Hogwarts. We think it is time to seriously think about what to teach them before they leave. We want them to be safe and we want them to understand what the other kids will say about us. We've kept them as sheltered as we could from the secrets we know, from our notoriety, and from the dangers we still face. It isn't fair to just send them off to Hogwarts with no knowledge of that. It also isn't fair not to equip them to defend themselves. I don't want them to be bullies, but I also don't want them to be beaten up or killed. They will share a House with a few students who would have been in Slytherin, back in our day. I also want them in Gryffindor. I especially want them together, but they will be safest if they are in the same House as Erin, Teddy, Klaus, and hopefully Scorpius Malfoy, Eostre Tonks Weasley, and Luna Alice Longbottom. They must all be together in Gryffindor. Neville promises to do his best."

"Ron and I have taught them to fly. Hermione has taught them 'Expelliarmus'. I think they've figured out that Hermione is both Muse and Minister and that you are the Mother. They do come to church with us and both you and Hermione are introduced and give sermons. They are both very intelligent children. They can't possibly have missed any of that. Nor can they miss that I was Minister for most of their childhood. They participated in my inauguration for my full term. We stopped trying to keep those secrets when they were seven. What else do you want to tell them?"

"They need to know about The Famous Harry Potter, the scar, Voldemort, and some of what you did during your time as Minister. They need to know that Hermione and I led a Quest, which traveled to other countries and other worlds. They need to understand more about their vacations on Elysium. I'm not even sure they know that Elysium is another world. I want them to know about the Black Stone. Our whole community knows about it. I want them to be able to communicate with the Stone and draw upon it for magical strength and knowledge. I want them to know about old and new Yggdrasil and to be able to talk to them and to be sucked into them in a crisis. I want them to know some of the family curses, like 'Off', 'Back', and especially 'Shield'. My own meteorological 'Whirl' curse doesn't even need to appear to be a curse. I'd like them to be able to mentally trigger an escape portkey."

"That's a lot - for a fourth year. They have a head start knowing 'Expelliarmus' and flying, but that is still a lot to teach them in six months. I've talked to Ron and Draco about this. Just a little, don't be upset. We think that's very heavy magic for them to take to Hogwarts with them. If they let too much slip, they would be targets."

"They are already targets, Harry. Why do we always have two aurors in our backyards? Why will there be an auror secretly at Hogwarts? Our Fred will be a very big target. Rose will be an even bigger target. Her mother is the Minister and the traditional Wizards aren't at all happy about that. They've, shall we say 'motivated', their children at Hogwarts to attack other children in the past. It's almost certain to happen again. I think between us and the Stone, we can teach them all of that. I'd be willing to include Scorpius in my lessons. He'll also be at risk. The hardest asses among the traditionalists still consider Draco and his parents to be the traitors who cost them victory in the Voldemort War. They've never given up on seeking revenge. There is still some sort of attack every other year - a drunk trying to duel Draco, sabotage at the Manor, death threats, the curse which just missed Scorpius. Draco is delusional if he thinks Scorpius won't need special preparation to be safe at Hogwarts."

"I don't want any of the kids to show so much power and advanced abilities that they remind people of the twins or of Steve Lester. That would be a different sort of Hell - seven years of being treated like a freak."

"Embarrassment is not fatal. Please, at least think about it. We should all get together and talk about this. We should include Draco and Adrienne. Her Klaus will be a third year in Gryffindor. They all need to protect each other. Yes, I know that I sound like a worried mother. I am the Mother of the Future and I have had visions of danger. You know of the Prophecy. The risk is real."

"Alright. Arrange for all of the kids to visit your parents tomorrow. You can invite the whole gang for a sit down - no objection from me. You certainly all planned to have kids at the same time, didn't you."

"Of course we did, we're friends, we want to go through life closely linked. It's a dangerous world and it's so easy for friends to drift apart, when they are at different life stages. We help each other. It has made it much easier to be a mother and not give up on the rest of our lives. We also have important work to do."

The meeting went well. I think the great dinner which Hermione and I prepared, along with some carefully chosen high strength Witch sherry helped. It was a great get together and gave the worried a chance to give voice to their fears in a group of friendly like-minded parents. I was given unanimous permission to begin my pre-Hogwarts training program. Everybody volunteered at least some time to assist me.

The kids were all assembled the following day. The older kids told the younger what to expect at Hogwarts. Neville explained everything which was being done to make all of the students feel comfortable and safe, so that they could learn as much as possible and make friends with many students from different backgrounds. To this end, he made his personal plea to befriend any students without magical parents, who were bound to feel lost and alone. Don't all sit together on the train. Leave space in your compartments to welcome a British born student or two from outside our community."

The remainder of the summer passed quickly. I taught almost everything I had set for my students to learn. Harry and Luna helped a lot. Adrienne gave a heads up on Witch painting and sculpting. Hermione made time from a very busy Minister's schedule to drill them on the fine details of the spells I had taught them, as well as the first spells they would learn at Hogwarts. We went to Diagon Alley early, both because she thought it safest and because she wanted the kids to start reading ahead in some of their textbooks, so that they could avoid a Snape-style ambush. I was more than a little worried by Hermione's concern about the safety of Diagon Alley.

"Probably just a rumor, but there's a hint that some of the opposition were planning to target our children during the back-to-school shopping rush. If that was real, we at least forced them to plan a different approach."

One part of the instruction was not according to my plan. The older students had met with the pending first years, to bring them up to speed on what to expect on the Express, the boat ride to the castle, the assignment to Houses, the professors, the first year courses, the vagaries of dorm life and communal Hogwarts food, and what they apparently described as the most interesting topic "your reward for paying such close attention to what we've tried to teach you. The best part of Hogwarts is boyfriends and girlfriends with no parental supervision. Maybe not your first year, but I have to tell you that there is a lot of sex at Hogwarts. Literally magical sex. We aren't as inhibited and staid as our parents' generation. We make far more use of magic in our personal encounters, and I'm not talking about nasty love potions. We know spells which can stimulate your partner, while you are both fully clothed and sitting six feet apart. It can really spice up a dull lecture. For the real deal, well there are spells to enhance that and guarantee a positive experience. We'll teach them to you, once you get the hang of the place and start forming your innocent first year attachments. We got two of the spells by sneaking into the reserve sections of the Hogwarts and Ministry libraries. A Goblin female taught me another. Some are our own invention. Pretty cool, huh. You have to be properly respectful to us older students if you want to learn all of THOSE secrets."

Most of this came from Klaus and Teddy, but not-so-little-any-more Erin also had tales to tell and spells to teach. I apologized to Hermione for not being able to shut this down, or even discover what was going on, until this entire advanced curriculum had either been fully imparted or at least advertised as attractions to come, if the little kids behaved.

"Don't worry. Times change. Hogwarts has changed. It's a new generation and they will follow their own sense of what is the done thing. If you stopped the lecture now, they just would have learned all of that within a week of arriving at Hogwarts. Since I've been Minister I've had to learn what battles just aren't worth fighting. Why upset your own and your friends' children, by fighting an unwinnable battle against basically good kids. I did tell Teddy to make sure they had a starter batch of the right potion and knew how to make more. He knew exactly what I meant."

The day finally arrived to make the trip to Platform 9-3/4. Hermione and Ron apparently were believers in a good sprinkling of aurors on both the magical and nonmagical sides of the platform. Haphazardly passing through the barrier between the two had always been a ridiculously risky endeavor, which would alert the nonmagicals to something strange. One job of the aurors was to create diversions to permit the students to transit undisturbed and unseen. Some of the aurors created illusions, both shields to good vision of the portal between platforms and lingering images of kids pushing their trolleys farther down the nonmagical platform minutes after they had left it. The lost were re-directed to the proper spot. Quarrels were interrupted, before they became fights. Treats were handed out. It was a pleasant experience and eased my anxiety.

We had brought the younger children to share the experience and to get a longing foretaste of their first train trip to Hogwarts. One of Ron's instructions to the children had been not too cry. Nobody did, although I think I might have felt better if they had. We waved goodbye. I saw Hugo and Fred return our waves. They disappeared toward their compartments before the train had traveled more than twenty feet. They were more independent than I had been. We had prepared them for this moment. They had confidence, but an air of all business, rather than wonder. Surely, when they caught their first glimpse of the castle...


	75. Chapter 75

**Final Epilogue or Perhaps Actually a Prologue, But At Least Not For a While**

I had worried greatly as I sent Fred, or as he has taken to calling himself Freddie James, off to Hogwarts. I had worried greatly throughout the year and used my shared teaching of the Religion and Divination class to check in on him. Believe me, sneaky check-ins do not relieve anxiety. I think it might be more calming to go by the heavily self-censored letters home. Those were uniformly cheery and depicted a Fred who was happy, learning a lot, thoroughly adjusted to Hogwarts, and with a handful of close friends, both old and new. Clearly, Fred thought I was the one who couldn't cope. Admittedly, I'm a doer, not a sitter and waiter. At least not happily. When I sense danger, I want to confront it.

Fred was now home for the summer. Observing him during his first month home, including two overnight visits by school chums, it was clear that Hogwarts hadn't ruined him, or even dented his psyche. So why was I so worried by the prospect of sending Lily off to Hogwarts in a short several months? I think it was because Lily is such a small child, looking more like an eight- than an eleven-year old. I know that small children tend to be picked on. It wasn't that Lily was defenceless or that she walked around wearing a perpetual 'kick-me' sign. She was the most magical of my three children. My fears about the dangers Fred was facing at Hogwarts drove me to teach more and more Weasley- and Stone-style Defence Against the Dark Arts magic to her.

My worry bothered Harry. He forced me to verbally recognise that Lily was not at all timid or unwilling to stick up for herself. If anything, she was overly bold and somewhat bossy. She had a sense for danger, as if possessing eyes in the back of her head. She could run extremely fast and was quite athletic, a born Seeker, both by eyesight and broom skill.

Minister Hermione, perhaps to assuage my fear, had intervened to get Lily her own personal wand, just one month after Fred arrived at Hogwarts - something about defence of a former Minister's family. She rejected my request to teach Lily how to Apparate - "far too dangerous, she is likelier to seriously splinch than to rescue herself from danger." She reminded me that, even the Black Stone was most unlikely to enable one as inexperienced as Lily to overcome Hogwarts' Apparation barriers.

I stifled myself, before I could blurt "but what about Hogsmeade day? That's open to first years, now."

I should have felt shame, but it had seemed natural to corner Charity on one of her rare weekends away from Oxford to join us in Potter's Forest. I was awkward: "You've always been quite short, Charity. I need to know how you've coped. I'm worried about my Lily. She's small for her age."

After an 'I can't believe you just said that to me' look and a short pause, she answered "I had Ginny. She protected me. Both Sarah and I could sense danger, Sarah more building in the background danger and me a right-on-the-doorstep kind of danger. Then I had some active magic to protect myself. I was a near-perfect truth-teller, before you taught me your technique – the whiff of peppermint, you know. I did okay. Lily will be fine. I know you taught her so much magic that Harry sometimes calls her 'Ginny's little auror'. Can that be a good thing? Speaking of magic - have you taught Lily to truth tell? Have you taught her to use her wand to detect poison or love potion in her food and drink?"

No, I hadn't. Why not? These were natural, passive skills for me to have taught her. She was far less likely to be caught out practicing it, than some of the other skills, which I had already taught her. My initial actions to test my food and drink by wand had been obvious to all, partly because, as I came to recognize, I had been deliberately making a statement. I could do the test windlessly. I knew I could teach that method to Lily. She knew so many curses that Harry accused me of trying to make her the school hooligan in compensation for my own first year woes. I merely replied to Charity "that's a great idea and I still have several months to teach her. That goes to the top of my to-do list." I apologised for my hyper-worry. Lily was my only daughter. I told Charity that I knew I was being silly but couldn't help myself.

This led to a long talk over coffee and chocolate chip cookies and then some of Harry's best brandy. I confessed that I was having a far harder time being brave where my children's' safety was concerned than I had been when I was in deadly peril. Charity was helpful, reminding me "you've taken so many risks, even rather stupid risks. I've done the I I don't want my children to die deaths that are even more premature and possibly avoidable. I know that's silly, but they're so young and Lily really is small... I was going to say, 'and delicate', but she hasn't been sick for even a day in her life and plays rough and tumble Quidditch with her brothers and the other kids in our village. It's not them. They're far more capable than Harry and I were when we went off to Hogwarts. It's me. I'm a nervous mother."

"Voldemort was a threat when you were at Hogwarts. It's natural that the horror of your first year would stick with you. You had the worst first year that any Hogwarts student ever had. Its probably unavoidable that you would focus upon and dread your own childrens' first year. But Voldemort's gone. We're at peace, with just about everyone, save a few malcontent wackos."

"There have been two Slytherin sightings in the past month. Hermione thinks at least one of them might be valid. That one was in Bulgaria and it was of a semi-ghostly Slytherin, but the witnesses' descriptions seemed likely and the three witnesses were in close agreement. Hermione sent three aurors to investigate and they were convinced. I'm convinced that great danger still lurks out there, somewhere. That makes me worry even more, and not just for the kids. I've kept my magical defences updated to max this past month. I'd stopped doing that. You should do the same. It's not a good thing to start feeling overly safe. Slytherin is both more powerful and angrier than Voldemort was. He doesn't seem foolish enough to make the dumb mistakes which hurt Voldemort."

"I'd say that you REALLY need to chill, but Sarah has been telling me that she has been feeling a sense of strong dread, like something seriously awful is coming in the next few months. She is seldom wrong. She's analysed her feelings and can sort of time how far in the future by monitoring how much dread she feels and how fast the dread is increasing. I know it sounds like the ravings of a mad person, but Sarah isn't crazy. Even before you gave us our own circle, she was right often.

"Which reminds me. You had magic in Britain, initially with quite primitive stone circles and common crystals and gems. You said that our circle was partly based on knowledge from other worlds. Why did we need other worldly magic and Britain didn't, until very recently?"

"The easy answer is that your circle needed to be above ground in a factory building. It's there to protect the bigger secret underground. If you're not aware of that, I need to take you on a field trip back to Hussite College and show you something quite surprising. I think part of the magic always had to be from other worlds. Hermione and I don't think any of the circles would have much effect if Earth didn't have its Black Stone and White Column. Except for the one we rebuilt, those came totally from other worlds, from the technology of the ancient Aesir. Stonehenge was all primitive but built near the Black Stone. I'm not so sure of the other circles. I think many used synthetic lodestone. We just learned how to make that. According to Hermione, her Uncle Reg found that all the circles on Earth, except for the old one at Hogwarts and the original circle beneath Gringotts used artificial lodestones. So, we believe that thinking humans evolved on Earth and most magical technology is from other worlds."

"Oh. So, humans somehow left Earth and surpassed those who stayed behind. How could that be?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. Neither does Hermione. We asked Odin. He didn't know either. He said it must have happened before the ancient Aesir, so something from beyond."

I could tell that Charity was unsettled when we departed, both by my comments on the source of humans and magic and the big secret at Hussite College, and by my state of mind. I admit that I stewed in my fear for several weeks, not able to say exactly why I was so frightened, then...

I had a vivid night dream. I forced myself to remain almost asleep, so I didn't miss one bit of the message. Then I shook Harry awake. As he stared at me with blurry eyes, I blurted: "the Prophecy. That's why I'm so worried! I don't know which of the cousins, but I'm certain that their prophecy kicks in this year and that it begins at Hogwarts. That probably means not the youngest, who are still at home, but..."

"Calm down. Give me a minute to take this all in. For all your magical ability and strength, prophesy isn't a strength of yours. Are you sure it wasn't just a bad dream caused by all your worry? Tell me what you remember from the dream."

As I recounted my vision, I realised how sparse the detail was. I had seen 'Danger', then 'Beware!' in big black letters on a blood red background. Then an ominous voice spoke "the cousins' mettle will surely be tested, as will your preparation of them for this test. You cannot give away the details of the prophecy or the great secrets, or all shall perish. Now, just sit back and wait, like a good little Witch." That last part was fairly sneered at me. Then I heard most unpleasant laughter. Harry was now fully awake and almost as frightened as I was. We made the circuit of each of our children's rooms, assuring ourselves that they were still breathing and giving a little kiss on the forehead. Fred woke while we were in the room. We told him to go back to sleep, but he demanded a hug. We all needed a hug. Badly! That set the tone for the rest of the summer, at least for Harry and me. The kids were oblivious.

I tamped down my fears. I taught Lily and Hugo. I was debating if it would be best to make an especially early trip to Diagon Alley, as we had done last year. All four of us decided that we shop ten days early. The day before we planned to shop, there was a big scare in Diagon Alley. It wasn't exactly a bomb. It was what looked exactly like the bombs that the Death Eaters used, but it didn't explode. When the aurors investigated, there was a note inside the not-a-bomb that just said 'it would have been so easy for this to have been a real bomb. Consider this a test. We passed. You failed. Expect to hear from us again'. It was signed 'The Society for Proper Change'.

Because Hermione is Minister and we both have auror husbands, we learned about this right after it happened. The rest of the community learned of it through banner headlines in the next morning's papers. We were determined to travel to Diagon Alley, despite the threat. A dozen of the families in Forest chose to travel with us. We had no difficulty. We were the only group shopping that morning, there were aurors present in the Alley, and the shopkeepers were all extra alert. Everyone got all their texts and school supplies. Lily bought the largest owl I have ever seen. It was two-and-a-half feet tall and required a special cage. The shopkeeper called it 'a rare Russian fish-eating owl'. He promised "just let him fly free at night and he'll pluck the fish right out of the loch."

I was wrong. We weren't alone as shoppers. Parvati Patil walked into the pet shop, with a young child, and her husband - Dennis Creevey. "I'm surprised to see you. I thought you were still leading the magical community in India."

"No. We decided that Suresh should be educated at Hogwarts. It was important to Dennis and I didn't think it right to make him attend a small school, where his mother was one of only five faculty. So... here we are. We stay until Suresh boards the train, then it's back to India for us. It's good to see all of you again. I read about you. You're all as famous as Harry was."

Suresh, who - delight of delights, was no taller than Lily was teasing Lily about buying an owl, which was as big as her. "How can you expect to carry the cage, or is it magicked.? It looks like our parents are friends, perhaps we can be, also. I know nobody in this country. Wow! You actually lifted the cage."

The size of the owl also seemed absurd to me: the smallest student in the school, with a cage she couldn't even carry by herself. Lily had such an instant attraction to the bird, and it to her, that I couldn't say no. I felt very stupid for not saying no, but Lily was telling Hugo and Suresh that she and the owl would be each other's protectors. I hadn't even intended to buy an owl. Fred had taken one of my ravens as his pet. Hugo was determined to also take a raven.

Suresh chose a flying beast, which the shopkeeper called the Pixie Dragon. Hermione strode over, pointed at the creature, declaring "that's a Welsh Green and it's a killer. You can't sell that. You can't even own it. I thought this was a reputable shop. I guess not!" She was told that she was welcome to simply take it and do whatever was appropriate. Hermione had been in the corner of the shop, looking at ferrets, since Hugo already had his raven. The shopkeeper hadn't realised the Minister had come into his shop. Parvati chose a medium-sized tawny owl for her son. The shopkeeper's assistant would finalise both purchases.

I paid for the owl and after a detailed discussion with the shopkeeper on proper care and feeding discovered that he knew little more about this brand of owl than I did. My truth-teller skills said that far from being as sorry to part with this fine specimen as he claimed, he was feeling that he had shed a very great burden. I thanked him just to shut down the false facts he was reciting to me - Hermione would research this when we got home. As I turned to leave, I saw that Lily, Hugo, and Suresh already seemed to be fast friends. What could I do? I invited the Creevey's to join us back home in Potter's Forest. They readily accepted, Parvati whispering to me "you can't imagine how awful the Leaky Cauldron has become. The rooms are dirty, and the food is something I couldn't possibly eat a second time. You're a life saver."

Diagon Alley was returning to normal by the day before the major back-to-school shopping day. All was fine until mid-afternoon when there was another bomb. It was a real bomb, but fortunately it was only designed to emit a big cloud of red smoke. It too bore a warning message. I was quite certain that many students would be arriving at Hogwarts less than totally outfitted. Hermione, Harry, and Ron had to go to Diagon Alley to investigate the bomb. When Harry returned home, he told me that another small bomb had exploded at the top of the Gringotts building, severing the flagpole and sending it crashing down on the entry stairs. A cloud of purple smoke hovered atop the bank. Each bomb carried a message. The first said 'it appears we can do this whenever we like. Don't assume future bombs will be this harmless.' The second note was more ominous. It said 'Diagon Alley is only for humans.' That was serious. Even Voldemort hadn't objected to the presence of Goblins at the bank.

Parvati, who had joined Hermione and me for tea, worried "what is happening? I thought England would be safe for Suresh. It's starting to seem like the Death Eaters all over again."

Hermione assured her that Hogwarts was very well protected. Parvati said that was all well and good, but we all knew how much injury the students could inflict. She asked that we encourage Hugo and Lily to watch out for Suresh. I agreed, saying the three of them already seemed to be friends.

I confessed that I had no idea, but that these were the second and third almost-bombs in about a week. A knock at my kitchen door yielded Cissy, who wanted to discuss expanding our manufacturing business to do what we did best: actual sculptures in bronze, stainless steel, stone, and wood. "The profit margins per Witch sculpt would be so much higher. We could make them here and ship them to America. We don't have many truly magical workers there. The business could fail! It would have failed if we hadn't taken turns spending time there."

Cissy saw Parvati and joined us for an afternoon tea, which was morphing into a sherry fest. She quickly picked up on the worried vibes from all three of us and added her own concern "we aren't all that far from the time when the former-Lord-who-isn't-really-my-father threatened a nasty surprise. He vowed to move up the date, so it could be any time, although I think it likeliest, if he has been tracking my life at all, to be a year from now, when my daughter enters Hogwarts. That worries me."

I had forgotten about the former Lord. That was a measure of how many other things I had to worry me. We didn't exactly drown our worries, but we became mellow enough that we didn't feel them as severely.

The trip to Platform 9-3/4 and boarding the train were uneventful. We encountered a lost British-born family with a Hogwarts-bound daughter and guided them through the barrier to the magical side of the platform. Hermione and I chatted with the parents, while Hugo, Lily, and Suresh talked to the daughter. The four of them boarded the train together and all waved to us from the same compartment. I learned from the mother that the daughter's name was Sadie Brown.

Hermione pointed a little farther down the track. I saw Tendra and her mother, Torva, and a smaller Goblin child, holding onto her mother's hand. We walked over to join the group. "My youngest sister is going to Hogwarts," Tendra announced. This is Tigrid, she just turned ten, but father says that Goblin children must mature more rapidly than Wizards. Tigrid has been intensively educated. She speaks perfect English. She has practiced a little magic with my wand. Father bought her a broom. She flew up and down our street."

As Hermione and the others in our group spoke with Torva and Tigrid, Tendra drew me away from the group. "Tigrid is putting on as brave a face as she can, but she is apprehensive about going to Hogwarts. She's younger than I was and not as brave or bold as I was. I was a rebel. Tigrid has been the very well-behaved youngest child, whom my parents doted upon. She might need help. Please ask Lily and her friends to help. I can vouch that Tigrid is a good and loyal Goblin. She would make an exceptionally good friend for Lily."

We ended this very brief conversation and returned to the group, before we were missed. The train whistle blew, and I didn't have time to ask Lily to befriend Tigrid, as all the children rushed to the train. Ron has stressed the importance of getting onboard promptly, so they could get their own compartment. This could be tough for first years. Lily and her friends rushed aboard the train. Tigrid said a final goodbye to her family and was one of the last students to board.

I saw Suresh waving from Lily's compartment. Then Hugo lifted Tigrid to the window, so that she could wave goodbye to her the train pulled out of sight and the children had long stopped waving, I realised that Lily had followed her brother's example and neither clung to us nor shed a tear. Perhaps she was glad to be shut of from her worry-wart mother until the Winter break.

We headed home. I had a sense that great adventures lurked on the horizon. I also sensed that those adventures likely would not be mine. I needed my own version of Mum's family clock. Hogwarts during interesting times could be harder on the parents than on its students.

THE END

(Or perhaps a beginning for a new generation of Hogwarts students)

Author's Note: I'm off to edit one and write another original story about the origin of Charity and her friends. I may return to Freddie James, Lily, Rose, Hugo and their friends.


End file.
